UK-based Sheffield Forgemasters has been awarded a strategic nuclear qualification, which the company says positions it to support development and delivery of the next generation of civil NPPs. The nuclear qualification came after an American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Section III Division I NCA 3300 (NCA 3800), NCA 4000 and NQA-1 Code survey and audit, recommended it for Material Organisation (MO), and welding (NPT) accreditations.
Ian Nicholls, group technical director, at Sheffield Forgemasters, said, “We undertook the ASME audit in November and have now received confirmation that the audit recommendation has been approved by the committee. The accreditation is a huge development with heightened requirements and protocols embracing all our processes, employees and selected sub-suppliers.”
The qualification followed the company’s announcement of a ground-breaking development in the acceleration of welding for large nuclear vessels, using Electron Beam Welding to reduce more than a year’s worth of manual welding to less than 24 hours. In February Sheffield Forgemasters completed weld-assembly of a full-size small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear vessel demonstrator using Local Electron-Beam Welding (LEBW).
Nicholls added: “The ASME accreditation, coupled with our development of Electron Beam Welding for large diameter, nuclear grade vessels, places Sheffield Forgemasters at the pinnacle of development for small modular reactors and presents significant possibilities for the UK’s domestic nuclear new-build programme.”
Sheffield Forgemasters is the only company in the UK capable of manufacturing reactor vessel components for SMRs, and this together with the ASME status, gives the company capability in delivery of advanced power-generation technology. As well as being the sole UK supplier of large, nuclear-grade forgings and castings, Sheffield Forgemasters’ MO and NPT status now makes it one of the only UK companies qualified for fabrication of the main components within a civil NPP.
Sheffield Forgemasters. which was acquired by the UK's Ministry of Defence in 2021, first gained ASME accreditation as a Nuclear Materials Organisation in 1992 but it had lapsed, with the lack of nuclear new-build in subsequent years. The ASME code is the most comprehensive series of guidelines for civil nuclear manufacture in the world with an emphasis on doctrines that have parallels with the European Nuclear manufacturing code, RCC-M, and other submarine nuclear standards.
Sheffield Forgemasters has signed a number of agreements with SMR design companies. In October 2023 it signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with US X-energy and Cavendish Nuclear (a UK subsidiary of Babcock International) to explore opportunities around the deployment of a fleet of Xe-100 high temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) in the UK. Under the MOU, X-energy and Cavendish Nuclear will make use of Sheffield Forgemasters' extensive experience in developing nuclear forgings and castings. The companies plan to build up to 40 Xe-100s across the UK.
Earlier, in February 2023, the company signed an MOU with with Holtec Britain to design components for Holtec’s SMR-160 SMR and identify the best routes to manufacture. This followed similar agreements with other SMR developers. In July 2016, Sheffield Forgemasters and NuScale Power agreed to co-operate to develop the manufacturing techniques needed for the planned deployment of NuScale's SMR in the UK. Another MOU was signed in December 2021 with Rolls-Royce SMR to jointly explore commercial mechanisms for long-term collaboration on the supply of forgings to Rolls-Royce’s planned UK SMR fleet. In September 2022 Sheffield Forgemasters signed an MOU with GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy to support of the potential deployment of the BWRX-300 SMR in the UK.
