The UK supply chain has the capability to meet the demands of the government’s nuclear energy aspirations, but how does the industry make sure it’s ready?

Professor Steve Jones, professor of welding and joining engineering at the University of Sheffield and the AMRC, answers that question, and details the AMRC’s position in supporting that preparation.

As the UK’s manufacturing sector continues to evolve to meet the challenges of a low-carbon, high-productivity future, the AMRC is proud to reaffirm and strengthen its commitment in supporting the UK’s nuclear deployment strategy.

By retaining and evolving core nuclear manufacturing capabilities with the creation of our Nuclear Manufacturing Group (NMG), the AMRC is building on the UK’s ambitions in nuclear new build, Small Modular Reactor (SMR) and Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR) deployment, fusion energy and decommissioning and waste management - while unlocking value for adjacent high-value industries.

In parallel, we continue our close collaboration with the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), in addition to technical standard bodies such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Through these relationships, the AMRC acts as a trusted voice and contributor to global safe manufacturing practices, while supporting regulatory alignment and knowledge transfer across the UK’s nuclear manufacturing landscape.

Safety and assurance runs through everything we do in nuclear manufacturing, so the AMRC’s culture is focused around standards. When this culture is built into a workforce, it permeates the supply chain. Innovation requires knowledge of limitations; understanding codes, standards and regulations enables a business to find gaps, and fill them. 

But the AMRC isn’t just nuclear. It’s aerospace and defence, automotive and marine, and everything in between. We’re learning from other sectors, from agri-tech pipes and fittings, right through to the modularisation of the International Space Station. And we’re sharing that learning.

We’re taking technologies established in other sectors, and being agnostic in our aspirations. We don’t want to just make parts faster, we want to improve productivity, increase right-first-time and understand processes better; we want a metronomic process that means the supply chain isn’t shelving parts and incurring ineffective costs. Our job isn’t always inventing new technologies, it’s making technologies that are already out there more useful.

The technologies currently residing in the UK supply chain are fit for purpose, and will be for the next generation of nuclear power plants, but can we make them smarter? Can we use data to improve on processes? We’re working to find an optimum balance between innovation and disruption - the balance of productivity.

There are few companies in the UK that can produce what’s needed for a nuclear power plant’s primary island - which contains all of the equipment and systems involved with the nuclear reactor and its heat production. The AMRC is working to elevate UK businesses onto that island, building on architecture within the secondary island - the conventional part of the plant that converts the steam's thermal energy into electrical power - to help steer companies into a position where they can invest into providing nuclear power plant support. We’re working to strategically shape the thoughts and practices by which we can reduce the barrier to entry into the nuclear sector, from skills and future workforces, to language and standards, so that the UK can meet and deploy what we’re demanding.

From academia through to regulation, a universal language is needed for the nuclear industry. You cannot drive innovation without pulling research through with it. The industry needs to communicate effectively what the academic community should be working on, helping shape research into something that can translate effectively from concept, across the VOID - valley of innovation death.

That’s why collaboration, at the forefront of the AMRC’s ethos, is so important. By leveraging the scale and world-leading capabilities from across the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, of which the AMRC is a member, alongside our connections spanning industry, academia - as part of the University of Sheffield - government and international bodies, we are uniquely positioned to help UK manufacturers accelerate innovation, build resilience and lead in a competitive global market.

The AMRC is a fully interdisciplinary integrator of technology, with the capacity, culture and capabilities needed to drive the UK’s ambitions in nuclear energy, all in one facility. The new nuclear manufacturing group at the AMRC is not simply a continuation - it is a strategic evolution, building on a legacy spanning South Yorkshire’s industrial history, through to the former Nuclear AMRC. The UK’s capability to work on key technology themes is something that is unique across the world. We’re building the future of UK nuclear manufacturing on a strong foundation - if you want to get involved, get in touch.