Perhaps for the first time in almost two generations we have real reasons for optimism in the nuclear sector in the UK. Within the decade we will be progressing three of the world’s most modern reactor designs, the EPR, the ABWR and the AP1000 on three sites, Hinkley Point, Wylfa and Moorside. This brings huge benefits for UK companies in that there will be three supply chains running in parallel. The issue will not be not whether there is sufficient work to be had, but rather whether there are enough skills, capacity and capabilities within the UK, to satisfy the demand. Playing a major part in these new build projects will mean that the UK supply chain and the consultancy companies which support it will be well placed to go forward to service the global nuclear renaissance.
Overseas nuclear companies own all of these new reactor technologies. The reactors are very large-scale with highly developed safety cases. Already key suppliers are being nominated as preferred bidders for significant tranches of work.
In the meantime, technology vendors are developing technologies for smaller, less capital expensive reactors; Small Modular Reactors (SMR’s). A small number of nuclear technology companies are actively seeking to develop the SMR in the UK.
The SMR is a viable opportunity for the UK to gain ownership of a reactor technology and to create significant, long term economic value for this country. The Department for Energy and Climate Change has commenced a second assessment of SMR technology with a view to recommending whether or not Government should ultimately invest in the procurement of a specific SMR technology. On current timescales, it is likely that this process will result in a decision from Government in late 2016, early 2017. It is vital that UK companies and particularly those smaller enterprises which have personnel with significant historical expertise engage early, as well as the more obvious large companies, if opportunities are not to be missed. Early qualification as nuclear competent manufacturers and suppliers will be essential.
In support of the development of SMR technology and of technologies with more than one application such as U-Battery, the UK has a “nuclear backbone” of world-class expertise in the National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL), the Nuclear AMRC, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), and northern based companies both large and small. The majority of this expertise is headquartered in the north of England around the Manchester conurbation and M62 corridor, with the Nuclear AMRC close by in Sheffield and the major academic capability in the Universities of Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, Lancaster and Central Lancs. Together with key industry players such as AMEC Foster Wheeler and Rolls-Royce as the Design Authorities and key service providers for the current UK civil and military nuclear reactor fleets respectively, this expertise base could be the embodiment of a ‘Northern Powerhouse for Nuclear’.
