Inside the Yorkshire research centre powering the nation's nuclear ambitions

Yorkshire Post

In little more than 25 years – so the theory goes at least – one-quarter of the country’s electricity needs will come via homegrown nuclear power. Given the chequered history of attempts to bring through new nuclear, reaching that target by 2050 from the current 15 per cent looks ambitious. But one place central to turning those aspirations into reality is the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) in South Yorkshire, which sits on land which was once part of Orgreave Colliery.  The facility has been used since 2012 as a base for researchers to test and develop millions of pounds worth of manufacturing innovations for the nuclear industry.  It mostly takes place in a giant open-plan workshop with offices on the top floor which overlook the hive of activity taking place below. It is in these offices where The Yorkshire Post is meeting CEO Andrew Storer.  In the earlier part of his career, Storer, originally from Derby, worked his way up through the ranks at Rolls-Royce to become part of their team tasked with setting up a civil nuclear business.  An initial political push in the early 2010s to find sites around the country for new nuclear power stations – a key factor in the initial establishment of the Nuclear AMRC which had Rolls-Royce as its lead industrial partner – ultimately fizzled out, partly as a consequence of concerns about the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan affecting investment decisions.  Storer joined the University of Sheffield-owned Nuclear AMRC in 2015 and was determined to find a viable future for the centre despite the altered political landscape.  It opened up to the nuclear decommissioning market, as well as defence and fusion reactors. The centre also established a supply chain programme called Fit For Nuclear.  Businesses involved in the programme have gone on to win more than £2bn worth of government contracts, safeguarding thousands of jobs.  The centre is also part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, a national network of seven specialist industry-focused research centres designed to help turn academic inventions into commercially-viable products.  In early 2022 following meetings with industry figures including Storer, Boris Johnson announced the launch of a new body called Great British Nuclear in a renewed attempt to bring forward projects.  Last week, the Government announced the start of talks with international firms about building a third major new nuclear plant at Wylfa in Anglesey which it is hoped could be similar in scale to also-planned schemes at Sizewell in Suffolk and Hinkley in Somerset. The latter is already under construction but may not open until the early 2030s.  In parallel to the large-scale plans, the UK is also pinning its hopes on what are known as small modular reactors (SMRs) which can be made in factories and involve a cheaper and quicker construction process. It is hoped they could be operational in this country by the mid-2030s.

Transcript

00:00 So hi, we're here today at the Nuclear AMRC in South Yorkshire. Can you tell me a little bit more about how this centre, how this facility can help the industry, particularly with the major skills challenge, 100,000 new workers needed in the next six years?

00:19 Yeah, it's a staggering amount of people required. There's two ways really. The first is we helped set up a skills academy in Derby with Rolls-Royce and the University of Derby and other partners.

00:33 There were 1,400 applicants for 200 positions. So we did that in six months. We won an award for that actually. We got the curriculum, the building converted. So that's one way of doing that, getting new people. 200 people a year, there's now 400 people going through that. That's also covering career conversions as well, so mid-career people.

00:53 I also think where we're standing today, manufacturing innovation has to play a huge part. So the amount of people needed is based on the way we work today, whether that's in systems, whether that's in procurement process, whether that's in design or manufacture.

01:10 For me, we've got to really apply innovation throughout the whole system, procurement process, improve vendor lists, materials, but also manufacture. If we apply some of the methods that we developed here at Nuclear MRC and other centres like this, I think we can reduce that number dramatically.

01:27 We're going to need more people. It's a challenge, but I don't think it's a steeper challenge as we're currently articulating. We also have to bear in mind, of course, that the more we talk about the skills challenge, it's a problem, the more inclined some people are to think we can't do this. We can absolutely do this. We've proven to be able to do it before and we can definitely do it.

01:44 And just one other question. How important can South Yorkshire be in the nuclear revolution that the country hopes to achieve?

01:53 Well, I think it's vital, quite frankly. We've got places like Forgemasters here, we've got other forge capability here. We've got two research centres here, we've got two universities here, and we've got a male combined authority with the appetite and ambition to invest in this region.

02:09 So it is central location wise. It's central. We attracted UK Atomic Energy Authority to bring on the on this side of it today, the fusion test facility. I think that's indication. We've got the first fusion reactor site at West Burton, which isn't that far away from here.

02:25 So if you have to draw a ring around the whole thing, it's a fantastic location. We need government decisions. Of course we do. But I think regions like this need to start to get ready and to start to think about the role they can play. And South Yorkshire and Oliver Copper and his team are doing that.

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended