nuclear-news

Blow to Miliband’s nuclear ambitions as top mini-nuke lab faces closure

Closure puts spanner in the works for net zero aim of quadrupling nuclear power by 2050

Jonathan Leake, 12 July

A state-backed nuclear laboratory at the heart of
Britain’s proposed mini-reactor revolution is facing closure in a
headache for new Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.

Researchers and staff at
Sheffield University’s Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre
(AMRC) have been warned of possible redundancies amid a major overhaul. The
centre, which employs about 150 people, is focused on engineering the
specialist steel needed to build small modular reactors (SMRs) – a key
element of Britain’s strategy to quadruple nuclear power by 2050. Staff
have been told that only about 30 of them will be retained and they will be
absorbed into the larger university-run Advanced Manufacturing Research
Centre, which employs about 700 workers.

The plan represents a blow to
Britain’s nuclear ambitions and a challenge for Mr Miliband as he seeks
to chart a path towards a low-carbon future. ………………..

.SMRs were championed by the previous government……………………..

The AMRC closure means
dozens of engineering and nuclear specialists could be lost – with many
likely to be recruited by largely overseas companies now leading in nuclear
manufacturing. The centre is owned by the University of Sheffield but is
overseen by industrial partners such as Rolls-Royce and French energy giant
EDF, which have made multimillion-pound investments at its site on the
Sheffield-Rotherham border. The overhaul comes as Great British Nuclear
(GBN), a government arms-length body created to drive forward delivery of
new nuclear-generating capacity in the UK, runs a competition to select two
designs of SMR to take forward for development.

 Telegraph 12th July 2024

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/07/12/top-mini-nuclear-reactor-lab-closure-blow-miliband/

July 13, 2024 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized