Dartford-based engineering and construction specialist Laing O’Rourke has joined a consortium spearheading the development of small nuclear power plants that could provide a much-needed boost to the UK’s energy supplies. Led by Rolls-Royce and including Amec Foster Wheeler, Arup, Nuvia and the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, the consortium is hoping to win UK Government funding for small modular reactors (SMRs). Rolls-Royce has come up with a modular concept that allows for factory manufacture and speedy on-site installation of an SMR that could power a city the size of Leeds. A spokesman for the UK SMR programme said: “It will provide a low-cost, low-carbon and ‘local to the UK’ solution to Britain’s energy needs. Our SMRs will be cheaper and more-flexible ‘plug and play’ reactors that can be part of a balanced and economically stable energy mix.
Machinery Market 5th Aug 2017 read more »
