Delivering Enhanced Through-Life Nuclear Asset Management

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£10,803,485

Nov. 1, 2017

Oct. 31, 2023

Nuclear engineering has returned to the forefront of UK industrial attention with an unprecedented government economic infrastructure spend programme not seen for over 50 years. The combined life extension and new build programmes in Civil Nuclear, running in parallel with life extension and new build in submarine nuclear programmes places a significant demand on an area of engineering already dealing with a National and International skills shortage. Existing and new assets in both civil and naval sectors are important as civil nuclear power accounts for 21% of the UK's electrical generation and nuclear submarines provide the UK's independent continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent. A strategic partnership comprising Babcock International Group, BAM Nutall, Bruce Power, EDF-Energy, Kinectrics, The Weir Group and the University of Strathclyde will establish a nationally significant research programme to increase capability and multidisciplinary expertise focussed on enhanced through-life nuclear asset management.
The overall aim of the partnership is two-fold. First, the drive is to create new knowledge and understanding to underpin the operational management/maintenance of existing infrastructure and to improve understanding and knowledge of lifetime and degradation processes. This will significantly increase the life of existing assets, minimise operational risk and reduce through life costs. Second, this novel knowledge can then be fed into the development of the next generation of nuclear plants and equipment, and hence translate these breakthroughs into the design and build of future nuclear assets. In doing this, the partnership will provide game changing knowledge, understanding and technology to deliver significant impact for the partners, the UK economy and global nuclear industry.
Additionally it will ensure UK scientific and engineering companies remain at the forefront of global markets.
The research in this programme targets low technology readiness level (TRL) advances that are required to support the ambitions of the industry partners and will deliver specific research outcomes which:
- Deliver improved understanding and knowledge of lifetime and degradation processes;
- Deliver a novel method or system for diagnosing or predicting degradation in plant;
- Deliver novel predictive models that allow the lifetime of plant items to be extended; or
- Deliver novel solutions to repairing critical plant to allow plant lifetime to be extended.

The research programme and the pathway to impact will result in the whole life cycle of nuclear assets being more effectively implemented at a value higher than the sum of the individual parts. Operators will see increases in generation and reductions in costs, resulting in lower cost energy for consumers. As nuclear energy is a carbon neutral energy, investment in nuclear will help decrease CO2 emissions and global warming.
The programme targets Energy Security and Efficiency, aiming to meet National Strategic Needs in the Nuclear Sector by investing in nuclear plant life extensions and efficiencies which will help increase electrical generation capacity and reduce the burden on existing electrical assets at a time when the UK faces a shortage in energy and electricity supplies in the coming years.
In addition, some of the industry partners' interests span a number of sectors and the research themes in this programme are also highly relevant to other sectors including aerospace, energy and marine.
Finally, an additional aim of the programme, relates to development of supply chains to deliver the next generation of technologies and components for nuclear assets. Moreover, as a number of the industrial members of the research centres are non-UK based, outputs from this research programme and subsequent products and services can be exported into international markets. This will lead to UK companies being part of foreign supply chains.

Potential Impact:
This programme is aimed at the supporting a more sustainable energy policy for the UK and benefits for all of society. It will result in lower cost energy for consumers and as nuclear energy is a carbon neutral energy, investment in nuclear will help decrease CO2 emissions and global warming. Additionally, nuclear plant life extensions and efficiencies will help increase electrical generation capacity at a time when the UK faces a shortage in energy and electricity supplies in the coming years.
By bringing together various sections of the nuclear supply chain (operators, consultants, OEMs, academics) in a consortium, an opportunity exists through this partnership to better integrate each part of the supply chain's needs and requirements, leading to a more efficient and effective nuclear sector in the UK.
The proposed treatment and repair strategies for nuclear structures (including foundations) are applicable to infrastructure within the wider Built Environment. The proposed technologies are low-carbon and designed to minimise production of radioactive waste, which requires encapsulation for storage and geological disposal. The research concerning operational intelligence and decision support will introduce a step change in the through-life plant maintenance, operation, management and lifetime extension capabilities in the UK and internationally. Within the UK context, the UK's largest producer of low-carbon electricity, EDF Energy, will benefit from: maximising the generation from their existing stations, reducing the costs of operations and maintenance on their existing stations, and reducing the costs of decommissioning their existing stations. The specific challenges and advances that the nuclear operators are using the Prosperity Partnership to address provides commercial opportunities for the wider partnership. The OEMs and consultants will benefit from technology-driven initiatives to enhance their support methodologies, service and product offerings.
The research outcomes, novel contributions and knowledge developed will provide value to a number of academic communities within EPSRC's clearly defined Research Areas. In particular, the programme directly articulates with researchers interested in EPSRC's Nuclear Fission priority area, with a focus on existing operations and new nuclear build. The strong linkage between the university's research, the industry partner needs and EPSRC priority research areas means that all of the research will significantly influence the UK academic community. Many of these priorities are also of international interest and reach.