Manufacture of Coke, Refined
Petroleum Products and Nuclear Fuel
April 2008
This group of sectors is a relatively small but high value added component of local industry. They account for only about 1.8% of the County's manufacturing employee jobs, though this is still more than double the share nationally. There are only a handful of establishments within the local industry. There are no longer any coke ovens in Lancashire and petroleum products have only a tiny presence, mainly entailing the processing of petroleum derivatives such as that of Total Bitumen UK Ltd, Preston-based producer of specialist bitumen products. Processing of nuclear fuel is the largest single activity, represented by Westinghouse Electric, formerly a group of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) now owned by Toshiba at their 200-acre Springfields site, Preston.
Both mineral oil processing and coke manufacture once had a rather larger presence in Lancashire, the former linked with wartime dispersal programmes and the latter with the local coal industry. As the two activities declined steadily in importance over the 1950s/early 1960s nuclear fuel processing expanded to service the needs of the UK's growing post-war nuclear power market. Over recent years there has been a steady decline in employment opportunity linked with the slowdown in the development of nuclear power and general production efficiency improvements which have boosted labour productivity, though local facilities have been able to maintain adequate capacity through increased export trade.
The main activity undertaken in Lancashire, using conventional chemical and engineering skills, is the conversion of natural uranium to uranium tetrafluoride, the production of intermediate products such as uranium hexafluoride, enriched uranium dioxide powder, granules and pellets and the manufacture of nuclear fuel elements for use in all major designs of nuclear power stations throughout the UK and overseas. There are also facilities to manufacture materials for experimental and prototype reactors. Springfields, originally opened as a civilian nuclear facility in 1946, was the first plant in the world to make nuclear fuel and began to supply the first commercial nuclear power reactor from 1956. Over its 60-year history the plant has produced over ten million fuel elements and pins and provided products and services for over 140 reactors in 15 countries. In 1999, following the acquisition of the nuclear business of Westinghouse in the USA by BNFL, Springfields became part of the UK Fuel Business of the Westinghouse Nuclear Fuel Business Unit. In 2005 under the Energy Act 2004 ownership and responsibility for the Springfields site transferred again to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). The NDA is a government body whose purpose is to oversee and manage the clean-up and decommissioning of the nuclear sites under its responsibility. A new company, Springfields Fuels Ltd, was created to run the site which continues to be managed and operated by Westinghouse Electric UK Ltd (now owned by Toshiba) on the NDA's behalf. Decommissioning activities of redundant facilities are well underway but fuel manufacture is still scheduled to continue until at least 2023. However, it is probable that Springfields will be looking to position itself to take advantage of recent government plans to replace existing power stations when they are due to close by this date in order to supply a new generation of reactors in the UK.
A fascinating account of the Lancashire Springfields site where the UK's civil nuclear power programme was born in 1946, ushering in the atomic age in earnest may be seen here at the website for nuclear sites managed and operated by the British Nuclear Group and Westinghouse.
Springfields Fuels Ltd, which currently employs about 1,500 people is part of both a large international company and also part of a substantial North West nuclear industrial services cluster able to offer a full nuclear fuel cycle service from uranium procurement through to waste management and decommissioning. As well as Springfields there are operational nuclear sites at Sellafield in Cumbria (electricity generation, spent fuel management and recycling, waste management and decommissioning), Heysham in Lancashire (British Energy AGR electricity generation) and Urenco Ltd at Capenhurst in Cheshire (uranium enrichment).
Overall, approximately 23,000 people are believed to be employed directly in the industry across the North West of England, accounting for 1.5% of total North West employment and about half of the UK nuclear skill base. Its economic contribution in terms of GVA is reckoned to amount to nearly £2bn per annum or 2% of the regional total and represents a high concentration of R&D facilities and capabilities. As well as BNFL itself, based at Risley near Warrington and with facilities at Sellafield, Springfields and Workington, other major regional players include AMEC NNC Ltd based in Knutsford and Warrington and the Nuclear Safety Directorate and Environment Agency that regulate the industry across the UK. The BAE Systems shipyard in Barrow is also a unique facility for the design and construction of nuclear powered submarines. The high value added industry is further supported by an established supply chain network providing expertise in engineering, specialist plant and equipment design and installation, civil engineering, decommissioning, safety and hazard assessment and technical consultancy services.
No new nuclear generation plants have been constructed in the UK since Sizewell, which was commissioned in 1995 and in the North West since Heysham in 1989. The current position of the industry and its further development is uncertain but recent government announcements suggest that new nuclear build will be necessary as part of a strategic energy policy to reduce UK reliance on imported energy, to promote competitive markets and to make a contribution to reducing carbon emissions. In the meantime considerable business opportunities are likely to lie in the use of decommissioning and cleanup expertise in the handling of redundant nuclear facilities and waste. Such nuclear decommissioning which has been the responsibility of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) since 1st April 2005, is currently worth about £2bn per annum in the UK. The duties of the NDA include promoting and ensuring the maintenance and development in the UK of a skilled workforce able to undertake the work of decommissioning nuclear installations and of cleaning up nuclear sites.
With the prospect of the UK nuclear industry going through a period of great change and opportunity, the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) has opened The John Tyndall Centre of Nuclear Research. This facility, the first of its kind in the UK opened in 2007 offering both consultancy and research services as well as undergraduate and postgraduate education in the nuclear sciences and engineering disciplines to meet the specialist skill needs arising both from the decommissioning programme and potential new build.
For further details, please contact:
Peter Kivell
Tel 01772 534157
Email Peter.Kivell@lancashire.gov.uk