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A demonstration reactor vessel for a small modular reactor (SMR) is to be forged in Britain by the end of 2017.
The aim of the £4 million project is to develop the manufacturing techniques that will be required for the future deployment of SMRs in the UK.
The vessel head will be fashioned by Sheffield Forgemasters International, which has teamed up with reactor developer NuScale Power. NuScale is hoping to manufacture and deploy the reactors in Britain, before eventually exporting them to other markets around the world, and has already begun process of building up a supply chain.
NuScale managing director for the UK and Europe Tom Mundy said: “Our vision of seeing the NuScale SMR deployed in, and exported from, the UK can and will only be achieved in partnership with Britain’s renowned engineering and industrial base.
“Sheffield Forgemasters’ skill, expertise and heritage is known the world over. Working together now is, I hope, the starting point of a lasting relationship that will ultimately see UK-manufactured SMRs generating clean reliable power for the UK grid by the 2020s.”
It is hoped that by virtue of being small and modular, SMRs can be pre-fabricated in factories to a single design before being transported on site and combined together to form larger plants. Developers believe this will help keep costs down.
NuScale’s plant design includes up to twelve 50MW power modules sunk into a large cooling pool in the reactor building. Steam is generated within the power modules before piped to one of two turbine buildings.
The firm already has a relatively advanced SMR programme in the US, where it is based. It has been awarded $217 million of match funding from the US Department of Energy and is expecting to submit a Design Certification Application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission by the end of the year. NuScale is planning to have to the first of the reactors up and running in Idaho in 2024.
In March the government launched a competition to find the “best value” SMR design for deployment in the UK. It followed the announcement in November of £250 million of funding for nuclear research, including for the development of SMRs. NuScale was one of 38 organisations to submit bids for the first phase which sought to “gauge market interest”. The government is due to publish a roadmap for the development of SMRs in autumn.
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