WARRINGTON-based Amec Foster Wheeler has been appointed by the government to lead a key nuclear power research programme.
Under a £2.9 million contract from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the company, which employs nearly 1,200 people at Birchwood and at Knutsford, will set up and run a UK digital reactor design partnership.
It will use virtual engineering and high-performance computing to enhance the techniques used to design reactors and optimise their performance.
The project is part of a broader effort to put UK industry at the forefront of developing Generation IV and small modular reactors, which could play a key role in meeting the UK’s future energy needs. The aim is to achieve a step change in the way that nuclear design, development and construction programmes are delivered.
Amec Foster Wheeler is supported by partners and sub-contractors from industry, academia and science, including the University of Liverpool’s Virtual Engineering Centre, the Hartree Centre at Daresbury, National Nuclear Laboratory, Rolls-Royce, EDF Energy, the University of Cambridge and Imperial College London.
Richard Harrington MP, Energy Minister at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said:
“I’m very pleased to have awarded virtual engineering, structural materials and nuclear design codes and standards contracts to Amec Foster Wheeler. Partnering with leading UK organisations in the nuclear industry will have a big part to play in helping deliver on our department’s big initiatives, including the Clean Growth Plan and the Industrial Strategy.”
Clive White, president of Amec Foster Wheeler Clean Energy, said:
“We are delighted to be working with BEIS and our partners to establish a virtual network that will enhance the techniques used in reactor design, in assessing how reactors will perform during their operating life and how this can be optimised.
“We will be bringing together expertise from industry and academia combining the latest digital techniques, such as virtual engineering, with advanced multi-physics modelling and simulation expertise. The objective is to enhance reactor design capability and assist UK industry to play a crucial role in our future energy security.”
