The UK's Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre has formed an alliance with Arexis, Assystem, Lloyd's Register and Rolls-Royce to support the nuclear new build programme through equipment qualification.
The alliance aims to produce a detailed report by early 2018 on equipment qualification requirements for the UK and will examine the UK’s current capability to meet them.
Equipment qualification (EQ) is a systematic approach to ensuring that safety-critical components and systems being manufactured for new NPPs meet the relevant quality standards. “UK suppliers aiming to win work in nuclear new build need to understand the requirements for qualifying safety-classified equipment,” said Andrew Storer, Nuclear AMRC managing director. “This can be a barrier to winning work in the nuclear sector, but is often overlooked.
Over the next 12 months, the EQ Alliance will investigate the UK’s capabilities to meet and manage the EQ requirements of the various technologies being developed for the UK’s nuclear new build programme, and help the Nuclear AMRC make recommendations for intervention.
