The University of Sheffield AMRC Factory 2050 – The AMRC
Rolls-Royce SMR is partnering with the University of Sheffield to launch a new facility to manufacture and test prototype modules for its small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear power plants.
The Rolls-Royce SMR Module Development Facility, which will be based in the University of Sheffield AMRC Factory 2050, will produce working prototypes of individual modules that will be assembled into Rolls-Royce SMR power plants.
The initial phase, worth £2.7m, of this £15m deal with the University of Sheffield will see Rolls-Royce produce three prototype modules by the end of this year.
Rolls-Royce SMR is offering a different approach to delivering new nuclear power that is easier to scale and more affordable than building larger nuclear power plants.
It’s an approach that aims to deliver an entirely factory-built nuclear power plant that would be transported as modules and assembled on-site, radically reducing construction activity and making the SMR a commodifiable product.
While unique within the nuclear industry, this modular approach is widely used and well proven across the oil and gas and renewables sectors.
Each SMR, assembled from hundreds of factory-built modules, will be capable of providing enough low-carbon electricity to power a million homes for more than 60 years.
“Our factories will produce hundreds of prefabricated and pre-tested modules ready for assembly on-site. This facility will allow us to refine our production, testing and digital approach to manufacturing, helping de-risk our programme and ensuring we increase our delivery certainty,” said Victoria Scott, Rolls-Royce SMR’s chief manufacturing engineer.
Rolls-Royce SMR factories will produce hundreds of prefabricated and pre-tested modules ready for assembly on site into a complete nuclear power plant – Rolls-Royce SMR
The AMRC Factory 2050 is the UK’s first state-of-the-art factory with reconfigurable spaces to enable collaborative research into digital manufacturing, machining technologies and component manufacture.
“We are very proud that Rolls-Royce SMR has chosen to base its module development facility at our AMRC Factory 2050,” said Professor Koen Lamberts, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Sheffield.
“This announcement is a testament to the university’s strengths in clean energy research and innovation, and our unrivalled expertise in developing leading-edge manufacturing techniques,” he added.
The UK government’s ambition is for the UK to meet up to a quarter of its electricity needs with nuclear energy by 2050. This will come from a mix of traditional large-scale power plants and SMRs, which can be rolled out more quickly and at scale.
Rolls-Royce SMR received UK government funding of £210m, which has been supplemented by £280m of private capital. This funding will help accelerate the Rolls-Royce SMR design and pass at least Step 2 of the regulatory process carried out by the nuclear industry’s independent regulators.
According to Rolls-Royce, the Rolls-Royce SMR programme is forecast to create 40,000 regional UK jobs by 2050 and generate £52bn in economic benefit.
In other recent UK nuclear news, the government has announced that Wylfa, North Wales, is its preferred site for the UK’s third mega-nuclear power station.
