Dec 2014 - Nuclear Industry Update

Market Overview UK Nuclear Industry

Dec 2014

2

UK Nuclear IndustryMarket Overview

Focus on Cumbria Focus on Cumbria11

Skills Update Skills Update22

Wider Projects Wider Projects33

Summary Summary44

Market OverviewFocus on Cumbria

3

Plans to build Moorside nuclear power plant in West Cumbria have moved one step forward following an agreement by HM Treasury to provide financial security for private investors in the project.

Government and NuGeneration Limited (a UK nuclear company owned by Toshiba-Westinghouse and GDF SUEZ) will work together to agree support through the UK Guarantee scheme which encourages quicker investment to get the project started.

When fully operational, the planned Moorside reactors will have a combined capacity of 3.4 GW which is enough to power up to six million homes. It will create 21,000 jobs and is expected to come online in 2024.

Moorside joins Hinkley Point C as part of the Government’s wider nuclear programme with plans for up to 13 new reactors on 5 different sites.

4


Plans to build nuclear power plant move one step forward

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/news

The UK Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has served Sellafield Ltd with a notice to improve its arrangements for managing asbestos at Calder Hall.

The Improvement Notice was issued after an ONR inspection of Sellafield Ltd's arrangements for managing asbestos at a number of locations on the Sellafield site in Cumbria.

ONR says it is satisfied that the issue does not have an impact on nuclear safety and noted that Sellafield Ltd has already taken action to initiate improvements.

"The ONR improvement notice formalises an improvement programme we had already identified. There has been no asbestos exposure to personnel," Sellafield Ltd told Nuclear Engineering International.

Sellafield Ltd said that more than 95% of bulk asbestos has been safely removed from Calder Hall.

5


Sellafield must improve asbestos management at Calder Hall

Source: http://www.neimagazine.com

Sellafield Ltd has taken on 170 new apprentices, a record intake for the UK's largest nuclear site.

Almost a quarter of the apprentices are female - seven times the national average for the nuclear sector.

The new recruits, mostly aged between 16 and 18, will begin their first year of the apprenticeship programme with local training provider Gen2 before moving on to roles with Sellafield Ltd.

The training programme will last three and a half years, with a job in industry guaranteed for those who successfully complete the course.

6



UK industry takes on new recruits

Market OverviewSkills Update

7

Capita IT Enterprise Services, has launched an apprenticeship scheme aimed at young people who want to develop an engineering career.

The new scheme includes a tailor-made training programme that complies with the Government’s Advanced Apprenticeship Scheme and enables IBIS to develop multi-skilled engineers.

Ten apprentices will be recruited in early 2015 and the business plans to repeat this annually based upon business growth and requirements.

Apprentices will undergo four years of training starting with network infrastructure work and progress to installing, configuring, testing and integrating IP based CCTV, access control, audio visual and wireless systems, to deliver our intelligent building solutions.

“With a UK skills shortage of high quality engineering resource, apprenticeship schemes are a great way to develop home-grown in-house capability.”

-Simon Furber, managing director, Capita IT Enterprise Services’

8http://www.capita.co.uk

Capita IT Enterprise Services launches apprenticeship scheme


The proportion of engineering and technology graduates who are women has barely changed over the past 10 years despite the government spending millions on initiatives designed to boost female participation in such subjects.

Only 15.5 per cent of graduates from first degree courses in engineering and technology in 2012-13 were women, down from 15.6 per cent in 2003-04, (Higher Education Statistics Agency)

Although the proportion of female graduates has fluctuated slightly during the interim years it has stuck stubbornly at between 14.8 and 16.6 per cent.

The absolute number of female graduates in the subjects has increased by 750 in the past

10 years.

9


Source: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk

Engineering degrees still not appealing to women

Engineering and design consultancy Atkins is retraining engineers in nuclear technology to meet a growing demand for atomic power in the UK and internationally.

This is to deal with a shortage of suitably skilled engineers as the UK prepares for to build new nuclear power stations and other countries develop their own power generation capabilities.

“You cannot believe how scarce these guys are. We are willing to support growth opportunities with resources and, to encourage people into the field, we have

started an internal academy.”

Uwe Krueger, chief executive of Atkins

10


Source: http://www.recruiter.co.uk

Atkins retrains engineers in nuclear technology

There was a 7% decrease in the number of job applications made across the UK between October and November 2014.

However, there was in total a 5% year on year increase between November 2013 and 2014.

Over 105,000 jobs were posted in November with Engineering jobs accounting for 17% of new employment opportunities.

The most new jobs were posted in Engineering, Construction, Education, Sales and the Medical sector, respectively.

Overall applications to jobs in the Engineering sector accounted for 10% of Job applications across the UK in November, coming second after Accounting jobs with 15%.

11


November UK Recruitment Summary – CV-Library Job Market Report

Source: http://www.onrec.com

The UK's Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre has signed an agreement to work with US-based reactor developer NuScale on its 50 MW small modular reactor.

The agreement opens the way for potential collaboration in the development and manufacture of NuScale technology, said Nuclear AMRC, part of the University of Sheffield.

The NuScale SMR, officially named the NuScale Power Module, would be factory made and shipped for deployment in sets of up to 12 units per site.

NuScale, which is owned by Fluor, is being supported by $217 million in funding from the US Department of Energy (DOE) to develop the design.

Jose Reyes, NuScale's chief technology officer also announced details of the new internship programme with the University of Sheffield.

The program will allow up to five Sheffield students to spend a summer at the company's operational facilities in Corvallis, Oregon, and at Oregon State University. The programme will begin in summer 2015.

12



Nuclear AMRC to work on NuScale SMR

Market OverviewWider Projects

13

EDF Energy expects to give the go ahead before spring for construction of the UK’s first new nuclear reactor for 20 years, despite financial problems at its partner Areva and a warning on the difficulty of such projects.

Areva, who are due to take a 10pc stake, issued its third profits warning in four months, sending its shares down 16pc and leading to speculation it would be forced to undergo a radical restructuring.

An EDF executive said volatile oil prices, uncertainty over Russian energy supplies and high hopes for a binding new climate change agreement to restrict carbon emissions underlined the need for new nuclear plants.

Asked about the problems at Areva, designer of the EPR and shareholder in the Hinkley project, De Rivaz said the French government, which owned the majority of shares in the business, had agreed to support it as a going concern.

Andrew Storer, a Rolls-Royce executive, said he was concerned at the lack of facilities for testing nuclear equipment.

14


Source: http://www.theguardian.com

EDF Energy to press on with Hinkley nuclear reactor project

Qatar's energy minister has said the gas-rich Persian Gulf sheikhdom would consider investing in the £25bn Hinkley Point nuclear project in Somerset.

Mohammed bin Saleh Al-Sada said: "We are looking at making further energy investments in Europe and the UK".

News of the potential investment in the

project from Qatar comes as the consortium behind the project led by EDF Energy and fellow French state-owned Areva seek additional funding from investors.

15


Qatar considering investment in Hinkley Point nuclear plant

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

UK-based construction and infrastructure firm Morgan Sindall is joining forces with two US companies to target nuclear new-build and decommissioning opportunities in the United Kingdom.

An agreement signed last week will see Morgan Sindall work with The S.M. Stoller Corp. and Newport News Nuclear.

Both companies are subsidiaries of Huntington Ingalls Industries and have extensive experience in the US nuclear sector.

Stoller specialises in nuclear engineering, radioactive and hazardous waste management and decommissioning, while Newport News Nuclear provides nuclear operations and programme management for the US Department of Energy.

Morgan Sindall, which brings design, construction and project management ability within the UK nuclear market, said the long-term agreement demonstrates the company's commitment to significantly expanding its UK nuclear presence.

16



Morgan Sindall targets UK nuclear with new US partners

Rolls-Royce has been selected by AirAsia X to power 10 Airbus A330ceo and 55 Airbus A330neo aircraft with engines and long-term TotalCare® support worth $6.2bn.

The A330ceos will be powered by the market-leading Trent 700 and the A330neos will be powered by the recently-launched Trent 7000 engine.

It is the largest order for the Trent 7000 engine since it was launched earlier this year.

The selection takes the firm AirAsia X A330ceo/A330neo fleet to 96, including aircraft sourced from operating leases, which will make the airline the largest operator of the A330 family. All are powered by Rolls-Royce engines.

The Trent 700 has won 67 per cent of new orders over the last three years and accounts for a similar percentage on future A330ceo deliveries.

17


Rolls-Royce selected to power 65 AirAsia X aircraft

Source: http://www.rolls-royce.com

UK-based engineering firm Supacat Group has acquired Blackhill Engineering Services Ltd, a Devon-based specialist in the fabrication of heavy components.

Supacat says that the new capability will strengthen the regional supply chain in the nuclear and renewables sectors.

Blackhill adds heavy engineering to Supacat's existing light to medium engineering. It brings a 60-ton lifting capability, a rare resource in the region, and an additional 28,000 sq ft of workshop space.

"The acquisition of Blackhill positions Supacat to collaborate on significantly larger renewable energy, nuclear and marine projects in the South West", said Nick Ames, managing director of Supacat Group.

18


Supacat strengthens nuclear supply chain


Twice as many people support building new nuclear power stations than oppose it according to a new poll released today by the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA).

The poll of more than 2,000 people across the UK found 45% support building new nuclear power stations to replace existing plants, while only 20% oppose.

This support has grown more than 10 percentage points in the past decade, up from 35% in 2004.

More than two-thirds (68%) of those who support building new nuclear power stations DO SO to ensure the UK is more self-sufficient.

Lack of knowledge on how the sector deals with waste continues to be the main disadvantage, with 82% of those who oppose building citing this as their main concern.

“…the results are clear that industry and Government need to engage openly and build greater understanding about what radioactive waste is. The British industry is successfully

decommissioning old nuclear plants and that expertise is being used across the world. We should be proud of that.”

-Keith Parker, Chief Executive of the Nuclear Industry Association

19


http://www.niauk.org

Support for civil nuclear grows

Sir David King, former chief scientist and champion of the nuclear new build, says the top priority must be to develop storage for renewable energy

Prof Sir David King, the former government Chief scientist, was speaking at a lecture, where he made very little mention of nuclear energy.

Speaking afterwards he suggest that Britain “might well” be able to do without atomic power altogether, and that the real priority should be on developing ways of storing electricity so as to be able to depend on famously intermittent sun and wind.

When asked about the lack of space and sun in Britain he said, “it [is] difficult to see that we’re going to reach a position where we don’t want nuclear energy”, and in that case he favoured the small “modular nuclear reactors” recently advocated by the former environment secretary, Owen Paterson. He later corrected himself, saying: “if we can get the costs down we might well manage our future basically on renewable energy and energy storage”.

20


Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Nuclear power may not be needed, says top atomic advocate

UK-based Horizon Nuclear Power has signed an agreement with the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), which allows it to start purchasing major equipment for its planned ABWR nuclear power plant at Wylfa in Wales.

The agreement relates to components and technologies designated 'Long Lead Items' that take a significant amount of time to manufacture and are needed early in the construction phase.

Horizon announced, 25 November, that it has signed a deed with ONR to give the regulator oversight of Horizon's procurement activities for the LLIs in advance of Horizon applying for a full nuclear site licence at Wylfa.

Horizon is developing plans to build at least 5400MW of new nuclear power generation plant at Wylfa on the Isle of Anglesey and Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire. The first plant at Wylfa Newydd is due to start generating in the 'first half' of the 2020s.

21


Horizon cleared to purchase equipment for Wylfa nuclear plant


Market OverviewSummary

22

23


Summary

Construction at Moorside nuclear plant will continue despite concerns over financial security of key stakeholders.

There continues to be high demand for engineering professionals and nuclear specialists with increasing plans to expand UK nuclear capabilities.

Men still hold the vast majority of engineering roles despite initiatives to attract women to the profession.

Support for nuclear power has risen among the general public although concern about the disposal of nuclear waste remains a concern.

Although the nuclear power sector is growing, top academic encourages focus on renewable energy rather than atomic.

New apprenticeships and training facilities are being developed within several companies to encourage new nuclear and engineering specialists.

Dec 2014 - Nuclear Industry Update

Engineering

Transcript of Dec 2014 - Nuclear Industry Update