Engineering news
More than 300 small manufacturers are set to benefit from specialist support to access the rapidly developing £60 billion civil nuclear new build programme.
Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS) nuclear expert John Ransford said that engineering companies who had the capability to work in the nuclear industry needed to take certain measures to prepare, and a new MAS programme developed in conjunction with Sheffield's Nuclear AMRC, Fit for Nuclear, would help them to do that.
These measures included being able to manage a 60-year lifecycle for parts, retaining records over that timescale, and being able to manufacture replacements. “A lot of it is to do with a long-term plan to be able to continue making parts that were made up to 60 years ago. You need to be able to manage quality standards, which are not terrifically difficult, but are heavily engineered.” Designs were checked and had to be rechecked as part of a bid, Ransford said. This might include x-raying materials to ensure there were no cracks in them, for example.
Suppliers would initially be able to work on Hinkley Point C, the new EDF/Areva reactor in Somerset, but once other projects at Wylfa, Anglesey, Oldbury, Gloucestershire, and Moorside, near Sellafield, got under way, there would be plenty of work around, Ransford said.
He added that EDF, Westinghouse and Hitachi were involved in upwards of 170 reactor projects across the world, of which 30 were already under construction. “We need to work now with the likes of UK Trade and Investment to get involved with those.” Companies looking to diversify into nuclear new build included those in oil and gas – for example pump and valve manufacturers – and aerospace, Ransford said. Electronics companies manufacturing sensors and similar systems could also benefit, he added, helping to manufacture control systems for new reactors. “If you go to your bank and say you have a 60-year order book then you very often get a good response from it,” Ransford said.
Funding is available for projects where grants are dispensed to engineering firms to help them prepare to work in the nuclear industry. This would include audits, inspections and assessment of standards by MAS to assess whether firms are ready to work in the sector, he said.
Any English SME can apply for match funding, subject to reaching the required stage in the Fit for Nuclear journey, with the average grant expected to be around £10,000.
For further information, please visit here or contact MAS on 0845 968 6000