Amec Foster Wheeler announces today that it has been selected to lead a new project to set up a high-temperature facility (HTF) for nuclear industry research.

The HTF, which will undertake vital testing work on materials used in current and future nuclear reactors, will be funded through a £2m grant from the UK government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Greg Willetts, Consultancy Director in Amec Foster Wheeler’s Clean Energy business, said:
“Being chosen to lead and manage this important new facility cements our position at the forefront of the industry’s understanding about how materials inside reactors perform at high temperatures.

“This programme will help to re-establish the UK as a major contributor to advanced nuclear reactor technology and play an important part in fulfilling the aims of the UK government’s Nuclear Industrial Strategy.”

The award followed a competitive bidding round in which Amec Foster Wheeler led a consortium made up of the National Nuclear Laboratory, EDF Energy, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, Urenco, the Universities of Manchester, Bristol and Oxford, the Open University, and Imperial College London.

As an open access facility, the HTF will be used by organisations in the nuclear industry and by university researchers.

Amec Foster Wheeler designs, delivers and maintains strategic and complex assets for its customers across the global energy and related sectors.

With pro-forma 2014 annualised scope revenues of £5.5 billion and over 40,000 employees in more than 55 countries, the company operates across the whole of the oil and gas industry – from production through to refining, processing and distribution of derivative products – and in the mining, clean energy, power generation, pharma, environment and infrastructure markets.

Amec Foster Wheeler shares are publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange and its American Depositary Shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Both trade under the ticker AMFW.

For more information, please visit : http://www.amecfw.com