Shipyard trumpets major partnership with nuclear research centre

Merseyside shipyard Cammell Laird has announced a new partnership with the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre.

The partnership was announced at a meeting of the Nuclear Industry Association New Build Group held at Cammell Laird to an audience of over 100 senior executives from the nuclear industry.

Cammell Laird energy division managing director Jonathan Brown said the new partnership will see the opening of a Nuclear AMRC facility within Cammell Laird’s Birkenhead site.

“We are hugely excited to announce this new venture with the Nuclear AMRC which will also see Cammell Laird become a Tier One member of the Nuclear AMRC,” he said.

“The development centre will thrust Cammell Laird forward as the leading UK industrial manufacturer developing expertise in off-site module build in partnership with a High Value Manufacturing Catapult.

“We are looking to researching a wide range of areas supporting the assembly, commissioning and transportation of modules of up to 5000 tonnes, where Cammell Laird benefits from its coastal location.

“Working with the Nuclear AMRC we will invest in our facilities and our skilled workforce and supply chain to meet the demands of modular new build. Looking forward, we will also target the export market through a strategy built on working with partners and countries around the world, focussed on the exploitation of the benefits of modular construction.”

Andrew Storer, managing director of the Nuclear AMRC, said: “We are delighted to welcome Cammell Laird to the Nuclear AMRC network.

“Our new facility in Birkenhead will focus on developing modular manufacturing methods for new reactors of all sizes, drawing on Cammell Laird’s expertise in modular shipbuilding and a host of innovative technologies to significantly reduce costs and lead times for nuclear new build.”