NuclearIndustry_Apr08

The Nuclear Industry in England’s Northwest

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England’s Northwest is home to one of the world’s largest concentration of nuclear facilities with aninternationally renowned skills base and technological expertise in engineering, generation,decommissioning and environmental remediation. There are 25,000 people employed in the region’snuclear sector, with seven nuclear sites and over 300 companies in the supply chain.

With recent UK Government energy policy announcements, nuclear power is now set to play a key role in the futureenergy mix. With all the elements of the nuclear fuel cycle in the region, Northwest companies will be playing apivotal role in the design, construction and operation of new nuclear power plants. This is also an exciting time foroverseas investors wishing to capitalise on nuclear new build opportunities. With experience of working with clients ina wide variety of industries and countries, the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) is ideally placed tofacilitate and catalyse new business with the region.

The region has a proud history of nuclear science and engineering. Just over 200 years ago John Dalton presentedhis atomic theory to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, and in 1907 Ernest Rutherford was appointedprofessor of physics at Manchester University and carried out pioneering research into the nature of alpha particles.

The region was also home to the world’s first commercial nuclear power generation plant at Calder Hall, Cumbria,commissioned in 1956. Building on this industry dynamism, from the 1960s onwards the UK developedcomprehensive infrastructure to support the nuclear sector as the UK embarked upon major nuclear programmes.

With world class facilities and capabilities, the Northwest’s nuclear sector is playing a key role in the £70 billiondecommissioning programme of the UK’s civil nuclear sites. Many of the organisations that have developed expertisein the UK’s decommissioning programme will also be applying their knowledge to decommissioning and new buildprogrammes on an international level.

England’s Northwest - Nuclear Expertise



UK Energy Policy

Case studyCostain Oil, Gas & Process hasassembled the UK’s largest nuclearengineering task force for manyyears, in its Manchesterheadquarters, to deliver additionalevaporative capacity (Evaporator D)for Sellafield Limited. Costain isbringing innovation to projectdelivery by applying modularisationtechniques gained from many yearsexperience in the oil and gas sectorto add value in terms of safety,quality and programme accelerationto the UK’s most important strategicnuclear decommissioning project.

Case studyNorthwest company Aker Kvaernerhas been awarded a £16 millioncontract by Magnox Electric Limited,to design, build and install a plant forthe retrieval and encapsulation ofwet intermediate level wastes (ILW)at Hunterston A Site in West Kilbride,Scotland. The project is part of thesite’s nuclear decommissioningprogramme, with plant start upexpected in July 2010. The scope ofthe contract includes engineeringdesign from Aker Kvaerner’sWarrington and Stockton offices, aswell as the manufacture,construction, site commissioning,and safety case work for a facilitythat will carry out the safe retrievaland encapsulation of the wet ILWwastes.

New Build

Current UK energy policy is driven by the needs of meetinginternational obligations to cut greenhouse gas emissions and toensure security for future energy supply. After extensive consultation,Government has concluded that nuclear power has a key role inmeeting these obligations, and in January 2008 announced the stepsthat would be taken to facilitate a nuclear new build programme in theUK. These steps include the introduction of a new Planning Bill whichwill reduce the excessive delays in the current planning process forlarge energy infrastructure projects. Many Northwest companies areexpected to play a key role in the design, construction and operationof new nuclear power stations.

The Northwest is also home to the key regulators for the design andoperation of nuclear plants, with the Health and Safety Executive’sNuclear Directorate in Liverpool and the Environment Agency’s NuclearRegulation Group based in Penrith, Cumbria.

Decommissioning

Established by the Government in April 2005 with an annual budget of£2 billion, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is responsiblefor the decommissioning of the UK’s publicly owned civil nuclearliabilities. Headquartered in the Northwest, the role of the NDA is ‘todeliver a world class programme of safe, cost-effective, acceleratedand environmentally responsible decommissioning of the UK’s civilnuclear legacy in an open and transparent manner and with due regardto the socio-economic impacts on our communities’.

The NDA is opening up the nuclear market to competition for themanagement of key sites. This will present unique opportunitiesthroughout the nuclear decommissioning supply chain, with many ofthe major industry specialists, such as AMEC, NUKEM, Atkins andJordan Nuclear having bases in the Northwest, as well as internationalcontractors such as Fluor, CH2M Hill, Doosan Babcock,EnergySolutions and Washington Division of URS Corporation.

Sellafield, the UK’s largest nuclear site, accounts for over 60% ofNDA’s annual £2 billion budget on decommissioning, offeringeconomic and investment potential for the global supply chain.

Waste Management

The legacy issues of nuclear waste are now being addressed in the UKand the preferred solution is a deep underground repository. With anestimated cost of £10 billion this will be a major engineering projectdrawing upon a wide variety of skills and technical disciplines. Many ofthe organisations in the region’s nuclear sector will be contributing tothis programme.


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Major NuclearFacilities inEngland’sNorthwest

Supply ChainWith approximately half of the UK’s 50,000nuclear sector employees in the region, theNorthwest has become the UK centre for civilnuclear science and technology. All aspects ofthe nuclear fuel cycle are carried out here fromuranium enrichment and fuel manufacture, topower generation, decommissioning andwaste management. There are approximately300 Northwest companies who play an activepart in the nuclear supply chain, and sixlicensed sites under the control of the NDAwhich generate a combined expenditure ofaround £1.5 billion (gross) per annum.



The National Skills Academy for Nuclear’sheadquarters are based in West Cumbria.

www.nuclear.nsacademy.co.uk

Energus, the flagship delivery arm of the NationalSkills Academy for Nuclear is currently underconstruction at Lillyhall.

www.energus.co.uk

The British Energy site at Heysham is the UK’s largestnuclear generation site with a total capacity of 2.4GW.

www.british-energy.com

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Springfield Fuels employs 1400 people andmanufactures nuclear fuel, intermediateproducts and uranium hexafluoride.

www.nuclearsites.co.uk

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The Urenco uranium enrichment operation atCapenhurst employs 500 people.

www.urenco.com

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The Nuclear Directorate of the Health and SafetyExecutive Inspectorate in Liverpool is responsible forlicensing all of the UK’s nuclear facilities.

www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear

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Key to Nuclear Facilities

With a £111 billion economy, 230,000 successful businesses and 7 millionpeople, England’s Northwest operates on a truly international scale. TheNorthwest Regional Development Agency is the organisation tasked withdelivering economic development and regeneration to the region, and is thefirst port of call for investors looking to do business in England’s Northwest.

The region consists of the major cities of Manchester, the largest financial andprofessional services location outside of London, and Liverpool home toEurope’s largest biologics community. It is also home to the counties ofLancashire, a world leader in advanced manufacturing and engineering;Cheshire, home to some of the world’s most successful multinational companies;and Cumbria, at the cutting-edge of nuclear technology.

One of Europe's largest concentrations of universities can also be found in theNorthwest with over 50,000 graduates per year. All of our universities arecommercially astute and encourage close co-operation with business. Twentyresearch groups across the region achieved the top rating (five-star) during thelast assessment in 2001.

Our region also provides excellent national and international connectivity. Byroad we have the highest concentration of motorways in the country, withthe UK’s main north-south and east-west routes both running through theregion. In addition, our three international airports fly to over 270destinations worldwide with Manchester International Airport the UK’slargest airport outside of London.

England’s Northwest

The Dalton Nuclear Institute, Manchester, undertakeshighest quality research across the nuclear fields.

www.dalton.manchester.ac.uk

Sellafield is the largest and most complex nuclear sitein the UK with around 12,000 employees on site.Although much of the site is being decommissionedthere are major fuel and waste reprocessing activitieson site. The Sellafield complex also includes theWindscale and Calder Hall reactors which arecurrently being decommissioned.

www.sellafieldsites.com

The British Technology Centre at Sellafield is a newpurpose built active laboratory complex employing around500 people. The UK Government has recently announcedthat the BTC will have the status of National NuclearLaboratory and be the centre of excellence for UK nuclearresearch. www.nexiasolutions.com

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The BAE Submarine Solutions yard at Barrow buildsnuclear submarines.

www.baesystems.com

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There are approximately 150 people at the NuclearDecommissioning Authority headquarters based atWestlakes Science Park near Whitehaven.

www.nda.gov.uk

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Skills

The National Skills Academy for Nuclear

Case studyA specialist in the area of nuclear siteremediation REACT Engineering isan SME providing cost-effectivesolutions through a meticulousprocess of research, analysis,synthesis and development. Aforward looking company, REACTEngineering is investing in the futurethrough their graduate trainingprogramme and links with schoolsand universities to actively promotecareers in engineering.

Case studyAMEC is the one of the largestprivate sector nuclear engineeringcompanies in the UK employingaround 650 people in its nucleardivision which includes a majorcommercial radiochemistrylaboratory in Warrington. In additionto performing analysis and testing,the laboratory carries outdevelopment projects supporting theoperation of the UK’s Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor (AGR) fleetspecialising in coolant chemistry andcorrosion.

The Government is committed to raising the skills base of the UK’snuclear workforce to meet forthcoming challenges in decommissioningand new build. The National Skills Academy for Nuclear, funded by theNorthwest Regional Development Agency, is the leading body for anemployer-led strategy to develop a standardised and coordinatedapproach to education, training and skills in the nuclear sector. From itsHead Office in West Cumbria, the Skills Academy will operate via aregional network of training clusters which will identify, develop andaccredit local high quality provision, creating “centres of excellence” forthe delivery of nuclear specialised training, enhanced where appropriateto respond to specific skill gaps as identified by nuclear employers.

The National Skills Academy for Nuclear will embrace the entire nuclearsector (excluding health), from power generation, decommissioning, clean-up and waste management, to fuel processing, defence and new build. Inresponse to the forecast that the nuclear industry will require a substantialincrease in potential new learners in decommissioning, new build and othersub sectors over the next 20 years, the National Skills Academy will focuson vocational and technical skills development and training, with clearlydefined links to Higher Education and Higher Level skills development.

The flagship delivery centre of the National Skills Academy for Nuclear isthe new £19 million Energus facility, currently under construction in WestCumbria. A major public-private partnership, Energus is set to become aworld class centre of excellence for nuclear skills development.



Science andEngineering BaseThe UK’s largest concentration of nuclear scientists andengineers can be found at the British Technology Centrein Cumbria. This £250 million purpose built facility isoperated by Nexia Solutions Ltd (the R&D subsidiary ofBNFL) and employs some 500 staff. The Governmenthas recently announced that this facility will be the focalpoint of a UK ‘National Nuclear Laboratory’. This majorlaboratory complex features active cells capable ofhandling high and medium activity wastes and extensivechemical analysis and testing facilities.

Case studyA new multi-million pound Metal Recycling Facility(MRF) to be built at Lillyhall, Workington in WestCumbria, will help the NDA and its contractors toimplement the national waste hierarchy by endingthe practice of sending valuable metals for burial atthe Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) near Drigg.The plant, to be built by Studsvik UK Ltd, was givenplanning permission by Cumbria County Council atthe end of July 2007.

Studsvik estimates that there are 500,000 tonnes ofslightly contaminated scrap metal in the UK whichcan be safely treated, recycled and reused. TheWorkington facility will handle metal arising fromboth operations and decommissioning activities onUK nuclear sites.

The Northwest has a long history of academic research in nuclear science and engineering. Manchester University has set outambitious plans to become a world leading academic institution and its nuclear research and education activities are a keypart of this. To help achieve its vision, the University has established the Dalton Nuclear Institute which has recently signed ajoint agreement with NDA for a £20m investment in new capabilities such as Radiation Sciences and DecommissioningEngineering as well as a state of the art research and teaching facility in West Cumbria. In addition, the Northwest ScienceCouncil has also endorsed plans at the Dalton Nuclear Institute to establish the Centre for Nuclear Energy Technology whichwill support capabilities necessary for new nuclear build. These additional investments go alongside the University’s existingnuclear strengths in Materials Performance, Radiochemistry, Engineering and Sustainability.

In addition to Manchester University a number of other institutes in the region have key strengths in the nuclear sector:

• Lancaster University is home to the Lloyd's Register Educational Trust Chair in Nuclear Engineering and Decommissioning and runs highly-successful, industry-based Masters programmes in Nuclear Safety and Decommissioning

• The University of Liverpool has a radiometrics research group specialising in instrumentation and modelling

• The Nuclear Technology Education Consortium, based in Manchester, is a consortium of UK universities and other institutions providing postgraduate education in Nuclear Science & Technology

• There are extensive facilities at the Institute of Materials at the University of Salford for the study of atomic collisions

• The University of Central Lancashire is home to the new John Tyndall Nuclear Research Institute with expertise in fuel cycle and analytical science, ventilation engineering and contaminated land remediation

• The University of Bolton’s Centre for Materials Research and Innovation has key strengths in the modelling, design and development of advanced materials of relevance to the Nuclear Industry as well as in methods for the detection of radiolytic products in foods and human body fluids

• The University of Cumbria & Carlisle College offer a Foundation Degree in Nuclear-Related Technology

• The University of Cumbria & Lakes College, West Cumbria, offer Foundation Degrees in Nuclear Decommissioning, Nuclear Related Technology and Nuclear Skills

• BAE Systems offers graduate placement within their Instrumentation Centre

• GEN II at Carlisle Skills Centre is a joint venture training company established in 2000 by five of West Cumbria's major employers - Sellafield Ltd, Corus, AMEC, Iggesund Paperboard and Innovia Films. UKAEA joined in 2005; the Centre offers a range of engineering & apprentice training and is developing a Foundation Degree in Nuclear Related Technology

• The National Laboratory (British Technology with Nexia Solutions) provide training in nuclear science, and engineering, and offer a PhD in Clean-up

• Sellafield Limited runs a graduate development programme and Nuclear MBA course

• West Lakes Research Institute in Cumbria has expertise in epidemiology and radiological assessment modelling

Academic research expertise


The Northwest Regional Development Agency PO Box 37Renaissance HouseCentre ParkWarrington WA1 1XBTel: +44 (0)1925 400 100Fax: +44 (0)1925 400 400

www.nwda.co.ukwww.enw.co.uk/invest

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April 2008

For further information on opportunities in the Nuclear sectorin England’s Northwest contact:

Joe FlanaganSector Leader - Energy and Environmental TechnologiesNorthwest Regional Development Agency

Tel: +44 (0)1925 400 332Email: [email protected]


NuclearIndustry_Apr08

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