technology NEWS
Assystem on board with SMRs
New fl eet of nuclear reactors to run for 60 years
7 May 2020 / www.theengineer.co.uk
JASON FORD reports
BUSINESS BOOST
UK businesses will be helped
through the coronavirus outbreak
with a £1.25bn government
support package. A Future Fund
will see £500m in lending made
available to high-growth fi rms,
and £750m of targeted support
for small and medium sized
businesses focusing on research
and development. The Future Fund
will provide UK-based companies
with between £125,000 and £5m
from the government, with private
investors at least matching the
government commitment.
HS2 ON TRACK
HS2 Ltd has issued a
‘Notice to proceed’
to the companies
that will build
Britain’s second
high-speed railway line. “While
the government’s top priority
is rightly to combat the spread
of coronavirus…we cannot
delay work on our long-term
plan to level up the country,”
said HS2 minister, Andrew
Stephenson. “HS2 will be the
spine of the country’s transport
network, boosting capacity
and connectivity while also
rebalancing opportunity fairly
across our towns and cities.”
HYDROGEN STORE
New metal-organic framework
materials with ultrahigh porosity
and surface area could help in the
development of next generation
fuel cell-electric vehicles.
Northwestern University in Illinois
led the design and synthesis of a
type of a metal-organic framework
that can store more hydrogen
and methane than conventional
adsorbent materials at safer
pressures and lower costs. A onegram
sample of the Northwestern
material has a surface area that
would cover 1.3 American football
fi elds.
Read more at
www.theengineer.co.uk
We are excited to announce the launch
of the 2020 Collaborate to Innovate
Awards (C2I 2020), The Engineer’s
annual search for the UK’s most
innovative, collaborative engineering
projects.
Now in its fi fth year, C2I – which is
supported by EPSRC and sponsored by
Frazer-Nash Consultancy – was launched
to uncover and celebrate great examples
of engineering collaboration – a dynamic
considered critical to solving many of
the challenges and problems faced by
society.
The competition is open to
any project that is truly innovative,
represents a collaboration between two
or more separate organisations and has
had, or is likely to have, a demonstrable
impact in its area of application.
For this year’s awards, entries
are invited from projects addressing
fundamental engineering challenges
across eight categories, including
automotive; aerospace, defence
and security; information, data
and connectivity; healthcare and
medical; energy and environment; and
manufacturing technology.
Other categories include the
coveted ‘young innovator’ award –
which celebrates great examples of
school student engineering projects;
The Engineer Grand Prix award – which
is chosen by the editorial team of The
Engineer; and a new trophy, The Future
Thinking Award, which is sponsored
by our headline partner Frazer-Nash
Consultancy.
As in previous years, entries will be
judged by leading fi gures from the UK
engineering community.
This year’s competition is supported
by EPSRC and EngineeringUK, and
sponsored by Frazer-Nash Consultancy,
Babcock, Mazak and HVM Catapult. For
sponsorship enquiries contact Justyn.
gidley@markallengroup.com
The closing date for entries is Friday
10th July. Winners will be announced
at a party in London on Wednesday 4th
November. JE
COLLABORATE TO
INNOVATE 2020
AWARDS ARE OPEN
NEWS IN BRIEF
Assystem has joined the UK
consortium tasked with
the design and build of the
UK’s small modular nuclear
power stations.
The project aims to build up to
16 compact, fi rst of a kind power
stations which are expected to
create 40,000 jobs in the UK, add
£52bn to the UK economy and have
an export value of around £250bn.
Each power station will provide
enough electricity - 440MWe - to
power a city the size of Leeds.
Assystem said it will lead
on the Turbine Island, Cooling
Water Island and Balance of Plant
development of structures and
systems through Model Based
Systems Engineering, Generative
design and original Project Delivery
Model Approach.
“The consortium is focusing on
developing a concept for a power
station as a product…and
following on with the remaining
equipment for power generation”
said Will Machin, Assystem’s
Engineering Manager for SMRs. “We
are aiming to build a power plant
that in addition to being extremely
safe is optimised for economic
power generation. That means that
we have to blend the right balance
of power, effi ciency, build time,
commissioning time and unit cost
across the nuclear and conventional
islands.
Machin, Chief Design Engineer
for Turbine Island, Cooling Water
Island and Balance of Plant, added
that a compact and effi cient
site is at the heart of the power
station design, as well as driving
construction times down by
utilising pre-assembled modules,
manufactured in purpose-built
factories and transported to the site.
“This will increase product
quality and on-site effi ciency,
driving the construction
schedule down and increasing
build certainty. The consortium
aims to use an iterative design
process, involving technoeconomic
optimisation, with early
engagement with the regulators and
other key stakeholders to deliver
this.”
Led by Rolls-Royce, the
consortium - comprised of Atkins,
BAM Nu all, Laing O’Rourke,
National Nuclear Laboratory
(NNL), Nuclear AMRC, Jacobs and
TWI - is match-funding the £18m
investment from UK Research and
Innovation (UKRI). The fi rst power
station is targeted to be built and
connected to the national grid by
2029.
In October 2019 Rolls-Royce
estimated the target cost for each
station would be £1.8bn by the time
fi ve have been built. Once online,
each power station will be able to
operate for 60 years.
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