Sheffield Forgemasters expands civil nuclear power supply
Published: 4 June 2009Sheffield Forgemasters has expanded its global supply of civil nuclear power components with new contracts servicing Argentina and South Korea.
Sheffield Forgemasters, which is the only UK company carrying ASME certification to manufacture civil nuclear castings and forgings, will supply £1.2m of forgings to power generation company Babcock & Wilcox for the Argentine nuclear power programme and a further £1.2m of forgings to German pump manufacturer KSB, destined for South Korea.
Both contracts will provide critical components used within nuclear power plants and highlight the company's increasing profile as a key manufacturer for the international civil nuclear supply chain.
David Bunney, general sales manager at Sheffield Forgemasters, said: "Babcock and Wilcox view Sheffield Forgemasters as a strategic supplier for future Canadian contracts and this order builds on the good working relationship that has developed between the two companies over the last four years.
"The order with Babcock and Wilcox has great significance as the client has high expectations of further business generated by need for similar products for the Canadian civil nuclear market.
"The order is for four forged tubesheets, which form a core part of the steam generator with water pipes running through them, and are replacement parts destined for the Embalse power plant in Argentina. This is a 600MW Candu type nuclear power station which began operations in 1981."
The Babcock & Wilcox forgings will weigh in at 20 tonnes each and deliveries are anticipated to complete early in 2010.
Sheffield Forgemasters' order with German manufacturer, KSB, is for forgings which will make up seal housings and covers for Westinghouse/KSB designed reactor coolantpumps at the Shin Kori project, part of the South Korean nuclear power programme.
The contract is to create eight sets of components, each set made up of two forgings weighing in at three and a half tonnes. The KSB contract is due to be completed in July 2009.
KSB is a specialist pump manufacturer supplying Westinghouse. This is one of a series of orders that Sheffield Forgemasters has produced for the Korean programme and the components are designed for a new 1400MW power plant.
Chief executive, Graham Honeyman, said: "Sheffield Forgemasters is servicing a global nuclear power market, which is expanding to feed a significant shortfall in power generation capacity across the globe. There are less than ten companies in the world capable of this type of civil nuclear power manufacturing.
"Sheffield Forgemasters has a long and proven history in supplying to the nuclear industries and it is important that the UK retains an option to manufacture for new power plants as this demand increases."