Sheffield Forgemasters Upgrading ASME Status for Nuclear Plant Fabrication

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Sheffield Forgemasters (Sheffield, United Kingdom) has held the highly valued American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) accreditation for the manufacture of components for civil nuclear power since 1992. The company is now developing a program to gain additional accreditation covering fabrication for civil nuclear power stations to capitalize on growing market opportunities.

Under its current accreditation, the company can manufacture components to the ASME Nuclear Code. The additional accreditation, ASME NPT (nuclear partial) will allow Forgemasters to physically fabricate safety-critical components. These components will be key to global nuclear power projects.

David Street, group quality director for Forgemasters, said: "We initially fielded an enquiry from one of our customers in the civil nuclear power industry to add a welded extension to a nuclear reactor primary pump casting prior to delivery, rather than having to source this work from another facility, which is a more efficient approach."

Without the ASME-NPT accreditation, Forgemasters could not undertake this type of work, but gaining the new accreditation opens market opportunity. The ASME-NTP addition covers the many assemblies within the nuclear primary and secondary pressure loop systems of a nuclear plant, using specialist welding techniques to join cast and non-cast metals, forged and other formed metallic materials.

To acquire ASME-NTP status, a specific quality management program must be developed to satisfy ASME quality assurance requirements. The company will engage the services of an ASME authorized nuclear inspector to work with its team in developing the program and then overseeing the release of welded fabricated and assembled components for service in nuclear applications. The company is hoping to gain the new accreditation in October 2012, when it is due to renew its existing ASME status.

Sheffield Forgemasters also holds the French RCC-M code for nuclear engineering. The company has produced 16-ton reactor coolant castings for two new generation AP1000 power plants in China, and this type of casting will feature on all future AP1000 plants throughout the world. The company has also supplied eight components made up of two forgings weighing 3.5 tons for a 1,400-megawatt nuclear power plant in South Korea.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle™, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.