Virtual Modelling Expertise To Keep Nuclear Projects On Track

Virtual modelling expertise as a key in overcoming project delivery challenges posed by the COVID-19 crisis.

This is the core of the new collaboration between the UK shipyard and maritime engineering company Cammell Laird and the University of Liverpool.

Cammell Laird has called upon experts at the University of Liverpool’s Virtual Engineering Centre in order to face with a potential delay to the risk-assessment phase of a vital, government-funded alternative energy project.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is sponsoring a series of studies through its Energy Innovation Programme to make alternative power generation systems, simpler, safer and more economical to deliver.

As part of this initiative, Cammell Laird submitted a successful bid to develop an onsite facility that would enable it to design, construct, outfit and deliver modular power plant sections – focusing on fuel assemblies for sodium-cooled reactors.

The design and build of the facility’s assembly test module must incorporate a Hazard and Operability Analysis (HAZOP) to assess and address potential, operational risks.

Being unable to carry out the required HAZOP tests due to coronavirus restrictions, Cammell Laird has turned to the university team, who is devising detailed, virtual, 3D models of reactor components that will enable Cammell Laird’s engineering specialists to conduct their analysis in the virtual world, avoiding delay and helping to ensure efficient delivery of the project.

Read more in the Cammell Laird Press Release.