The University of Strathclyde (www.strath.ac.uk) and global engineering firm Babcock (www.babcockinternational.com) are to lead a new initiative intended to make nuclear assets safer and more reliable.

The Prosperity Partnership programme will develop advanced inspection techniques, biotechnology solutions for infrastructure repair, operational intelligence and data science and new products and processes for managing nuclear facilities and extending their lifetime.

It forms part of a £138 million investment in research-business partnerships announced by the UK Government and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), which is providing £2.1 million of funding for the five-year programme, with the university and industrial partners providing a total of £2.315 million.

The project also involves EDF Energy, Kinectrics Inc, Bruce Power, The Weir Group, BAM Nuttall, Imperial College London, the University of Surrey, Cranfield University and the Alan Turing Institute.

Stephen McArthur, deputy associate principal at Strathclyde University, said: “This Prosperity Partnership will establish a nationally significant research programme to increase capability and multi-disciplinary expertise, focused on enhanced through-life nuclear asset management.

This is clearly aligned with the industrial partners’ common strategic aims of: safe, reliable and efficient delivery of output; nuclear waste monitoring and disposal; mitigation of operational risk; and the creation of stronger nuclear products and processes.

“Through the Prosperity Partnership, the university and industrial partners aim to enhance industry’s ability to successfully maintain existing nuclear power stations and naval assets, and deliver the next generation of these assets in a sustainable and economically feasible manner.”