Member Article

Forgemasters expertise recognised with £2m+ grants

Sheffield Forgemasters has secured two multi-million pound funding grants from the Government aimed at projects to boost its nuclear power capabilities and expertise.

The funding, totalling £2.15m, from the Government’s Technology Strategy Board, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, will be used on two projects being spearheaded by the Sheffield-based engineering company.

Just over £1m will go towards a £2.1m project with TWI and the University of Sheffield, to produce cast reactor coolant pumps. SFIL will deliver a lower cost, cast solution for the RCP to replace the current forged design. Successful qualification should result in major export orders for the UK.

The rest of the money will go towards another multi million pound project led by Forgemasters, this time working with Rolls Royce, MERMEC UK and the University of Sheffield.

This project is to develop innovative production, simulation and measurement technologies to produce a full-scale, forged component for the primary loop of a civil nuclear power plant. The aim is for Forgemasters to be one of the first companies globally to produce and achieve mechanical properties on such a newly designed component.

Professor Graham Honeyman, chief executive of Sheffield Forgemasters, said: “We have, and continue to, invest significant time and money into pushing the boundaries of casting and forging technology here at Sheffield Forgemasters and we are crucial in placing the UK at the forefront of development in this sector.

“Our techniques have not been achieved by any other civil nuclear engineering companies.”

Vince Cable, secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, announced the new funding awards to allow companies to take advantage of the “huge opportunities” in the nuclear industry, enhance the supply chain and increase opportunities to commercialise new technologies in the nuclear power sector.

Forgemasters’ funding was two of 35 projects from across the country to gain approval and only one of two in Yorkshire to be successful in its application for a total of £18m funding expected to lever an additional £13m in developing new technologies for the construction, operation and decommissioning of nuclear power plants.

The announcement was made alongside the publication of the Government’s nuclear industrial strategy which sets out objectives to develop a strong and sustainable nuclear industry in the UK.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mark Lane .