Chinese nuclear firms eye UK market

Forgemasters initially entered the Chinese market due to China's importation of Westinghouse designs. As Chinese firms started to develop their own nuclear projects, the company's track record in China provided new opportunities.

Forgemasters has already supplied parts like valve bodies and pump castings to China, and Tomlinson says his team regards China as a key market because the firm has overseas offices in just a few places.

He says a significant proportion of exports to China is still done through the supply chain of Western nuclear designs, but he hopes to increase direct exports to China, and building a good relationship with Chinese nuclear firms in the UK will be an important step toward that goal.

The Chinese nuclear firms' UK expansion has also attracted great interest for collaboration from the National Nuclear Laboratory, a UK government-owned and operated nuclear services technology provider covering the whole nuclear fuel cycle. Run as a business, the NNL is looking at both helping Chinese nuclear technology to enter the UK market and also developing joint research with them to improve nuclear technology for Chinese firms.

The NNL has assembled a team of UK firms with expertise across the nuclear supply chain to help Chinese firms understand the processes and key strategy of localizing its nuclear technology, though details are still under negotiation, says Ian Jackson, strategic business development manager.

NNL is also offering some of its research expertise to Chinese firms, and one example is its modeling and simulation expertise.

"It may be good to simulate reactor systems on a computer system so a company can project what the performance is like in the future. We would like to do this for Chinese technology, so we can together move away from simply the physical tests to very advanced observations," Jackson says.

This could be attractive for Chinese nuclear investors, both in terms of improving technology and gaining approval in the UK.

Simulation technology can be used to predict operational lifetime and maintenance periods, and simulate different kinds of fuel, leading to the creation of an integrated design, which are advantages unavailable to the current nuclear technology.

"This advanced simulation technology has significant implications for nuclear projects because it would help to persuade the investors that their investment is justified, and would help the regulators to understand the quality of a foreign nuclear technology without having to go through the actual physical tests in a reactor system," Jackson says.

cecily.liu@chinadaily.com.cn