Merseyside engineering and shipyard business partners with the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre to develop manufacturing methods for nuclear reactors. Tony McDonough reports.

Birkenhead engineering and shipyard firm Cammell Laird will be the location of a new manufacturing research centre for the nuclear power industry.

As part of its drive to become a “world-leading” nuclear industry hub, the company has teamed up with the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (Nuclear AMRC) to create the facility.

Drawing on Cammell Laird’s expertise in modular shipbuilding the centre will specialise in developing modular manufacturing methods for nuclear reactors of all sizes.

The partnership was announced at a meeting of the Nuclear Industry Association New Build Group held at Birkenhead to an audience of more than 100 senior executives from the nuclear sector.

Cammell Laird energy division managing director, Jonathan Brown, said: “The development centre will thrust Cammell Laird forward as the leading UK industrial manufacturer developing expertise in off-site module build.

“We are looking to research a wide range of areas supporting the assembly, commissioning and transportation of modules of up to 5,000 tonnes, where Cammell Laird benefits from its coastal location.

“Working with the Nuclear AMRC we will invest in our facilities and our skilled workforce and supply chain to meet the demands of modular new build.

“We will also target the export market through a strategy built on working with partners and countries around the world, focused on the exploitation of the benefits of modular construction.” 

Andrew Storer, managing director of the Nuclear AMRC, added: “It also gives us a base in the North West, the core region for the UK’s nuclear industry, allowing us to work more closely with the regional supply chain and the development sites in Cumbria and North Wales.