Nuclear funding hope for Sheffield Forgemasters

SHEFFIELD Forgemasters is hoping to secure a Government funding package worth more than £30m which will enable the manufacturer to build a machine capable of producing the next generation of nuclear reactors.

The Yorkshire manufacturer wants to build an open-die press, capable of pressing down on metal with a force of about 15,000 tonnes, making it among the most powerful machines of this type ever built.

The Treasury is expected to decide next month on whether to provide assistance to the £140m project.

If approved the UK would have its own source of the large components necessary for the 10 nuclear stations which the Government intends to build over the next 15 years.

Forgemasters has been in talks with officials and ministers from the business department (Berr) for several months over a “complex and very creative” financial package to help the scheme go ahead.

The subject of the potential assistance to the project is likely to arise during a visit by Gordon Brown and buisness secretary Peter Mandelson, to Sheffield on Friday.

Earlier this month the company – which can trace its history back more than 200 years – announced that it had secured its first phase of orders for the American civil nuclear power market, thanks to a stainless steel component originally created for China.

The engineering specialist employs around 800 people and expects sales to reach £140m in the next year.