|
|
Forgemasters lands GBP60m nuclear deal
(Yorkshire Post Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) SHEFFIELD Forgemasters has signed the first part of a GBP60m 10-year deal to supply steel casks to contain nuclear waste produced in Germany.
The deal is the largest and longest-running contract that Sheffield Forgemasters has entered into during its 200-year history.
The initial GBP10m contract, signed with Gessellschaft f'r Nuklear-Service mbH (GNS), has seen Sheffield Forgemasters secure an initial production run of 24 forged steel casks to transport and store waste from reprocessed spent nuclear power station fuel elements.
The second part of the contract, providing GNS with the option of a further 24 casks is valued at GBP9.1m. The 10-year contract is to produce 150 casks.
Each cask weighs 61 tonnes and a sample cask will undergo stringent destructive tests carried out by the German regulatory authorities to guarantee the strength of the forgings.
Last year Sheffield Forgemasters's chief executive Dr Graham Honeyman, who led a management buyout of the company in 2005, told the Yorkshire Post he expected the Sheffield-based firm to benefit from the nuclear power industry across the world.
Forgemasters' sales director Volker Schaffer said it was a landmark deal for the company and for British engineering. "It demonstrates our capacity to move forward with the next generation of nuclear power and to take an engineering lead within that industry.
"Germany and other European countries are basically an extension of our home market and it is a reflection of Sheffield Forgemasters reputation that we were chosen by GNS as one of the few companies in the world with the required expertise and capability to undertake this scale of production and long-term commitment." Olaf Oldiges, head of construction, development and special projects at GNS, said: "The contract to supply nuclear waste casks to GNS is a major deal and Sheffield Forgemasters were awarded the contract on the basis of the company's substantial experience in supplying similar products to other countries.
"GNS needed the assurance that whichever company was to undertake the contract it would be able fulfill specific requirements over quality control, consistency and supply above other considerations. Sheffield Forgemasters were able to fulfill all of those criteria."
Copyright 2007 Johnston Press Plc. Source: Financial Times Information Limited
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
|
|
|
TMCnet LOGIN
Webinars
