Jacobs Engineering : to Host UK Research into Nuclear Modular Manufacturing

Jacobs is providing engineering testing, workshop and office space to support the U.K.'s research into modular manufacturing for the nuclear sector.

TheNuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre(Nuclear AMRC) is moving its modular manufacturing research group to a new home at Jacobs' Birchwood Park facility near Warrington.

Modular manufacturing involves fabricating large-scale complex systems in factories under controlled conditions, then transporting them to site for final installation and assembly.

The Nuclear AMRC modules group is adapting techniques used in shipbuilding, aerospace and other sectors for use across the nuclear sector. The team tackles challenges in modular design and manufacturing for new reactors of all sizes, as well as the challenges of decommissioning and waste management.

"Being able to work so closely with Jacobs, with its many years of experience across the nuclear sector, will bring major benefits," says Nuclear AMRC CEO Andrew Storer. "Our engineers and researchers will work with industrial partners to develop new capabilities for the construction, operations and maintenance of modular reactor systems, and explore how modular principles can be delivered to support the next generation of power plants for both fission and fusion."

Jacobs joined the Nuclear AMRC as a tier one member in August 2021 to help drive innovation in advanced nuclear technologies. Based at the University of Sheffield, Nuclear AMRC helps U.K. manufacturers win work in the nuclear sector by deploying engineers and sector specialists to work with companies to develop innovative techniques and optimised processes for large-scale high-precision manufacturing.

The Nuclear AMRC will be able to work closely with Jacobs' materials and structural integrity teams and facilities at Birchwood Park to help prove the machining and joining technologies being developed at its other facilities, and make sure that components produced in new materials or by innovative manufacturing processes can perform under the extreme conditions experienced within a reactor system.

"Hosting and assisting Nuclear AMRC's modular manufacturing research group will help us to remain at the forefront of the development of new reactors and new techniques for nuclear decommissioning, enabling us to better serve our clients," adds Jacobs Energy Security & Technology Vice President Martin Hinton.

At Birchwood Park, Jacobs operates 12,000m² oflaboratories and test rigs, the U.K.'s largest independent complex of its kind serving the nuclear sector, employing more than 700 technical experts and practitioners with world class expertise in materials, chemistry and structural integrity and advanced capability in robotics and remote operations.

Birchwood near Warrington is one of the U.K.'s largest clusters of the nuclear industry, with Jacobs as the largest tenant. Other tenants include Sellafield Ltd, Rolls-Royce, National Nuclear Laboratory and Cavendish Nuclear, SNC-Lavalin, Orano, Nuvia and a wide range of SMEs.

"Being part of one of the U.K.'s largest nuclear hubs is going to be crucial for the Nuclear AMRC, especially our supply chain programmes," Storer notes. "Birchwood Park is the place to be for the nuclear supply chain, as the only major hub for the sector that's independent of any one organisation or technology."

Supported by Jacobs, Nuclear AMRC recently secured a key win with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Under a manufacturing support services framework, Nuclear AMRC and Jacobs will bid for tasks on the U.K.'s flagship fusion power project, the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production.

The framework scope covers joining and forming technologies, machining feasibility, pressurised vessel design and manufacture, and assessment and guidance on design for manufacture (including novel, initial design concepts) and non-destructive evaluationtechnologies.

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