Government funds nuclear forging press

SFIL, which also supplies the UK defence industry, secured the final part of the funding package using an £80m government loan announced by business secretary Lord Mandelson at the Sheffield company’s site.

The government’s loan will act as an additional contribution to funding provided by key partners of SFIL, including nuclear power-plant manufacturer Westinghouse. 

The funding agreement means that SFIL will join a group of five companies capable of producing the largest components for nuclear-power reactors.

The group claims the contract will also create hundreds more jobs at its Brightside Lane site.

Graham Honeyman, chief executive at SFIL, said: ‘The government loan forms the final piece of a two-year project to finance the installation of a 15,000 tonne forging press that will place the UK at the peak of a global supply chain for civil nuclear manufacturing. 

‘There are other companies in the world looking to enter the market for these large-scale components, but none will be able to achieve production in the same timescales as SFIL, partly due to the lengthy time it takes to gain international accreditation to manufacture for the nuclear industry.’