News: Redundancy threat at Nuclear AMRC
Staff at the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (Nuclear AMRC) have been told of proposed redundancies with only core research & development activities to be retained.
With state of the art facilities on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham, the £25m Nuclear AMRC is a joint initiative with industry, The University of Sheffield and The University of Manchester's Dalton Nuclear Institute, and is designed to help build and enhance the UK's civil nuclear new build industry.
Hailed as being "fundamental in making the difference in the UK and winning vital orders" by the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, Professor Sir Keith Burnett, the insitution, and current vice-chancellor, Koen Lamberts, appear to be scaling back the centre as the wider industry suffers delays in both large and smaller scale nuclear investment projects.
Construction of the 86,000 sq ft centre at Waverley begun in November 2010. With over 100 staff, the workshop includes a range of state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment tailored for nuclear industry applications. The building also includes laboratory and technical support space, a VR cave for virtual assembly research and training.
With funding from industrial members (reactor providers such as Westinghouse, and top-tier suppliers such as Rolls-Royce and Sheffield Forgemasters) and government research and support grants, the centre has also developed a supply chain programme to help UK manufacturers get ready to bid for work in civil nuclear.
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Professor Koen Lamberts, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, told The Times Higher Education: “To deliver our priorities around clean energy research and innovation, we have proposed changes to the current structure of the Nuclear AMRC. We are actively working to reduce the need for redundancies where possible and we are supporting our staff throughout the change process.
“The plans propose that the Nuclear AMRC’s core manufacturing research and development activities will be retained by the University of Sheffield.
“The proposed changes reflect the university’s key strength in nuclear manufacturing R&D. Our work to support the design and production of small modular reactors will continue to grow and offer significant opportunities for the South Yorkshire region.”
Large scale nuclear projects are behind schedule and over-budget despite a desire to increase nuclear energy capacity. For example, EDF's Hinkley Point C has been delayed by at least a further two years to 2029 at the earliest.
Focus has shifted to small modular reactors (SMRs) as a more deliverable option for nuclear power, but this sector has also been hit by delays.
Earlier this year, Andrew Storer, CEO at tne Nuclear AMRC called for more action. He said: "As many of the companies at our recent SMR supply chain events pointed out, they are waiting on decisions from government, Great British Nuclear (GBN) and the top-tier developers on which projects might be going ahead and on what timescale.
"The sooner that decisions are made and transferred to the supply chain, the sooner capability and capacity can be developed."
Rolls-Royce, a company intrinsically linked to the university and region, recenlty committed to a £multi-million Module Development Facility to produce working prototypes of the individual modules that will be assembled into Rolls-Royce SMR power plants. The facility is set to be develed inside the AMRC’s flagship Factory 2050 building in Sheffield and not at the Nuclear AMRC.
Nuclear AMRC website
Images: Nuclear AMRC
With state of the art facilities on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP) in Rotherham, the £25m Nuclear AMRC is a joint initiative with industry, The University of Sheffield and The University of Manchester's Dalton Nuclear Institute, and is designed to help build and enhance the UK's civil nuclear new build industry.
Hailed as being "fundamental in making the difference in the UK and winning vital orders" by the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, Professor Sir Keith Burnett, the insitution, and current vice-chancellor, Koen Lamberts, appear to be scaling back the centre as the wider industry suffers delays in both large and smaller scale nuclear investment projects.
Construction of the 86,000 sq ft centre at Waverley begun in November 2010. With over 100 staff, the workshop includes a range of state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment tailored for nuclear industry applications. The building also includes laboratory and technical support space, a VR cave for virtual assembly research and training.
With funding from industrial members (reactor providers such as Westinghouse, and top-tier suppliers such as Rolls-Royce and Sheffield Forgemasters) and government research and support grants, the centre has also developed a supply chain programme to help UK manufacturers get ready to bid for work in civil nuclear.
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Professor Koen Lamberts, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sheffield, told The Times Higher Education: “To deliver our priorities around clean energy research and innovation, we have proposed changes to the current structure of the Nuclear AMRC. We are actively working to reduce the need for redundancies where possible and we are supporting our staff throughout the change process.
“The plans propose that the Nuclear AMRC’s core manufacturing research and development activities will be retained by the University of Sheffield.
“The proposed changes reflect the university’s key strength in nuclear manufacturing R&D. Our work to support the design and production of small modular reactors will continue to grow and offer significant opportunities for the South Yorkshire region.”
Large scale nuclear projects are behind schedule and over-budget despite a desire to increase nuclear energy capacity. For example, EDF's Hinkley Point C has been delayed by at least a further two years to 2029 at the earliest.
Focus has shifted to small modular reactors (SMRs) as a more deliverable option for nuclear power, but this sector has also been hit by delays.
Earlier this year, Andrew Storer, CEO at tne Nuclear AMRC called for more action. He said: "As many of the companies at our recent SMR supply chain events pointed out, they are waiting on decisions from government, Great British Nuclear (GBN) and the top-tier developers on which projects might be going ahead and on what timescale.
"The sooner that decisions are made and transferred to the supply chain, the sooner capability and capacity can be developed."
Rolls-Royce, a company intrinsically linked to the university and region, recenlty committed to a £multi-million Module Development Facility to produce working prototypes of the individual modules that will be assembled into Rolls-Royce SMR power plants. The facility is set to be develed inside the AMRC’s flagship Factory 2050 building in Sheffield and not at the Nuclear AMRC.
Nuclear AMRC website
Images: Nuclear AMRC
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