Sheffield-based heavy engineering firm Davy Markham is to meet with engineers from the ITER nuclear fusion project this week in Barcelona to discuss the building of the programme’s reactor vessel.
Davy Markham leads a consortium of British firms hoping to win business on key elements of the ITER project. The multinational ITER research project may be the last chance to prove that nuclear fusion - the same reaction that produces energy in the sun - can supply future energy requirements.
The experimental ITER reactor is planned to go online in 2015. It is designed to produce 500MW of fusion power sustained for up to 400 seconds.
Davy Markham managing director, Kevin Parkin said that “things were moving quickly”, and that his engineering team would also be visiting the ITER site at Cadarache, southern France, at the end of the month.
Davy Markham, in collaboration with Amec and The Welding Institute, is said to be up against a number of businesses in its bid to build parts of the experimental fusion reactor, and also hopes to supply the civil nuclear industry in the UK as new reactors are built.
Parkin said: “We are very excited about the potential for nuclear new build and hope things will move forward soon. New build could and should have a positive impact on Sheffield and across the country.”
Davy Markham is also celebrating the accreditation of its apprenticeship programme by the IMechE. Parkin said IMechE recognition of the programme meant “recognition of our level of engineering competency”. He added that “it was important to set a professional standard for schemes”. Out of the company’s shopfloor workforce of 100, there are now 18 apprentices, with plans to recruit more this year.
© PE Publishing, 11 January 2010
