The Nuclear AMRC operates research, production and business support facilities in South Yorkshire and other key regions.

Work at the Nuclear AMRC focuses on metals engineering and does not involve nuclear critical aspects such as fuels or other radioactive materials. We are committed to environmental sustainability, and certified to ISO 14001 for environmental management – for more information, download the University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Group environmental policy (pdf). We are also certified to ISO 9001 for quality management.

See our contact page for addresses and directions to our facilities.

South Yorkshire

Our core facility is an 8,000 sq m research factory on the Advanced Manufacturing Park (AMP), on the boundary of Sheffield and Rotherham, where we sit alongside the University of Sheffield AMRC and AMRC Training Centre, and a host of high-value manufacturing companies.

The Nuclear AMRC is based around an open-plan 5,000 sq m workshop, containing over £35 million worth of state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment tailored for nuclear industry applications. The building acts as a research factory for innovative and optimised processes in machining, welding and other key areas of large-scale manufacturing technology.

The building also features accommodation over three stories, including laboratory and technical support space, virtual reality facilities, open-plan offices and secure meeting rooms.

The building was designed by Bond Bryan Architects to BREEAM Excellent environmental standards.

Visiting? Download the map (pdf) for detailed directions.

Derby

Nuclear AMRC Midlands is a new industrial R&D centre at Infinity Park, Derby.

The new centre focuses on later-stage development in technology areas which will deliver the maximum impact for the UK’s nuclear supply chain, and act as a regional base for our supply chain development programme. The building has a total area of around 4,300 square metres, including a large open-plan workshop with ten metre ceilings and 50 tonne cranes to allow work on large fabrications and assemblies, and dedicated laboratories for 3D printing and rapid prototyping, virtual reality and visualisation, and equipment qualification.

The building also provides a new base for the University of Derby’s Institute for Innovation in Sustainable Engineering.

The full-scale Nuclear AMRC Midlands follows a pilot facility in Infinity Park’s iHub building, which we opened in February 2019. We worked with regional partners to build the new bespoke research facility, securing £6.85 million from central government in August 2020. Construction started in March 2022, and completed in April 2023.

Nuclear AMRC Midlands forms part of a developing nuclear cluster on Infinity Park alongside Rolls-Royce’s Nuclear Skills Academy. We worked with Rolls-Royce and partners to establish the new academy at iHub, which is now training 200 apprentices a year for Rolls-Royce’s submarine propulsion business. The Academy is also supported by the National College for Nuclear, the University of Derby and Derby City Council.

Visiting Nuclear AMRC Midlands? Download the map (pdf) for detailed directions.

Birchwood Park

 

Jacobs Renaissance Centre at Birchwood Park

Our Birchwood Park facility, hosted by our industrial member Jacobs, focuses on research into modular manufacturing processes for nuclear.

Modular manufacturing involves the off-site assembly of large-scale complex systems, which are then transported to site for final installation. These techniques are already widely used in shipbuilding, aerospace and other safety-critical industries – in the nuclear sector, they can significantly reduce construction risk and help deliver new power stations to schedule and cost.

Work focuses on developing and proving modular manufacturing techniques for nuclear applications, including new reactors of all sizes, decommissioning and waste management.

Birchwood Park near Warrington is one of the UK’s largest clusters of the nuclear industry, with Jacobs as the largest tenant. Other tenants include Sellafield Ltd, Rolls-Royce, National Nuclear Laboratory, Cavendish Nuclear, SNC-Lavalin, Orano, Nuvia and a wide range of SMEs.

Manchester
The Nuclear AMRC supported the development of new laboratory facilities within the Dalton Nuclear Institute at The University of Manchester, with access to the Institute’s extensive manufacturing, testing and analytical resources.

The Manufacturing Technology Research Laboratory is based in the former Royce Laboratory within the University’s Sackville Street building. The facility includes a range of state-of-the-art equipment including machining, cutting and welding centres; tensile testing machines and autoclaves; and electron and x-ray analytical facilities.

The laboratory focuses on three key areas: new materials and processing, including cutting; welding and joining; and surface technology.

Research in each area is underpinned by detailed analytical characterisation, thermo-mechanical testing in nuclear environments, and modelling and simulation, to make sure that all technologies are optimised and appropriate for manufacturing nuclear components.