Rolls-Royce and Nuclear AMRC build UK Small Modular Reactor Module

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Rolls-Royce and Nuclear AMRC build UK Small Modular Reactor Module

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Thursday 1 February 2018 09:00 AM

Rolls-Royce and Nuclear AMRC build UK Small Modular Reactor Module

Rolls-Royce has awarded a contract to the Nuclear AMRC to develop a module demonstrator for the UK Small Modular Reactor (SMR). The demonstrator will develop an understanding of modules and underpin the early stage design principles that are pertinent to deliver cost and programme certainty for the manufacture, construction and through-life operation of its UK SMR power plants.

Matt Blake, Chief Engineer - SMR, said: “Modular design is central to our UK SMR Power Station, not only for the reactor components but for the construction of the entire plant. The UK SMR uses road transportable modules that are completed in factories and transported for direct ‘plug and play’ installation on site, allowing a fleet of reactors to be built and operated with much greater levels of cost certainty and operational efficiency.”

Johnny Stephenson, Nuclear AMRC business development manager, said: "This is a fantastic project for our new modular manufacturing research facility in Birkenhead, where we are developing and evaluating a range of modularisation techniques which could be used to build a new fleet of SMRs. We will work with the UK SMR consortium to explore both physical and digital aspects of modularisation, using technologies that have the potential to deliver significant savings in the manufacture, assembly and operation of SMR power stations."

Rolls-Royce is leading a consortium of British companies to design a small modular reactor power station to deliver low cost, low carbon energy to help the UK meet its carbon commitments. The Rolls-Royce-led UK SMR could produce reliable energy for as low as £60 per megawatt hour – competitive against wind and solar – and through its innovative approach to modular construction, can avoid the complexities, delays and overspends often associated with large infrastructure projects.

About Rolls-Royce Holdings plc

Rolls-Royce’s vision is to be the market-leader in high performance power systems where our engineering expertise, global reach and deep industry knowledge deliver outstanding customer relationships and solutions. We operate across five businesses: Civil Aerospace, Defence Aerospace, Marine, Nuclear and Power Systems.
Rolls-Royce has customers in more than 150 countries, comprising more than 400 airlines and leasing customers, 160 armed forces, 4,000 marine customers including 70 navies, and more than 5,000 power and nuclear customers.
We have three common themes across all our businesses:
- Investing in and developing engineering excellence
- Driving a manufacturing and supply chain transformation which will embed operational excellence in lean, lower-cost facilities and processes
- Leveraging our installed base, product knowledge and engineering capabilities to provide customers with outstanding service through which we can capture aftermarket value long into the future.
Annual underlying revenue was £13.8 billion in 2016, around half of which came from the provision of aftermarket services. The firm and announced order book stood at £80 billion at the end of 2016.
In 2016, Rolls-Royce invested £1.3 billion on research and development. We also support a global network of 31 University Technology Centres, which position Rolls-Royce engineers at the forefront of scientific research.
Rolls-Royce employs 50,000 people in more than 46 countries. More than 16,000 of these are engineers.
The Group has a strong commitment to apprentice and graduate recruitment and to further developing employee skills. In 2015 we employed 228 graduates and 277 apprentices through our worldwide training programmes.
The Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre works with companies along the supply chain to improve manufacturing capabilities and performance for the nuclear industry. It is part of the UK government-backed High Value Manufacturing Catapult, and managed by the University of Sheffield.

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