Reducing manufacturing costs for nuclear power
Developing ways to keep costs down as high powered processes in nuclear power are developed.
Impact at a glance
Challenge
Reduce the manufacturing costs of high-integrity nuclear components while ensuring performance over their full design life.
Solution
Develop and test advanced manufacturing techniques, supported by specialist facilities, materials analysis and performance modelling.
Potential impact
Lower manufacturing costs, accelerated deployment of new nuclear technologies and greater confidence in long-term component performance.
Challenge
New approaches are needed for reducing manufacturing costs in high integrity nuclear power station components, using processes such as electron beam welding and powder metallurgy.
These must be justified by detailed understanding of the manufacturing process and how it could affect component performance over the design life.
Solution
We have invested £8m in a Manufacturing Technology Research Laboratory dedicated to innovation in nuclear manufacturing.
We are building a capability to produce realistic manufacturing features, such as industry standard welds, carrying out detailed materials analysis to determine performance at the micro and macro scale and developing analytical models of long term performance.
Benefits
Through our Dalton Nuclear Institute, we have established an advanced nuclear research capability in manufacturing which combines real-world engineering knowledge with state of art materials science and computational modelling.
We work closely with industry, national and international research institutes and centres, including the UK's Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre and with a range of other universities.
