Lancashire-based Assystem — the world’s third-largest nuclear engineering firm, with its headquarters in Blackburn — has become an official partner in the Northern Powerhouse Partner Programme.

The announcement, which coincided with the inaugural Northern Powerhouse summit in Rotherham on 13 September, means that Assystem will join many high-profile businesses in promoting the strategic and economic value of the North, with continued investment in the region and a particular focus on education and skills development, enterprise and innovation.

Assystem (www.assystem.com) is at the forefront of a number of projects in the nuclear industry, in particular the small modular reactor programme (UK SMR), led by Rolls-Royce.

If progressed, this new generation of innovative reactors will bring considerable economic benefits to the North of England through job creation and skills development.

Globally, Assystem employs 5,700 people. It is involved in the development of nuclear programmes abroad, as well as in the UK at Hinkley Point C.

Its engineers are also at the forefront of developments in nuclear fusion, with a team of scientists based in Sunderland currently supporting the creation of ITER, the world’s largest fusion prototype (based in France), as well as experiments run by the UK Atomic Energy Authority in Oxfordshire.