Nottinghamshire-based ECS Engineering Services is ready to supply solutions to the nuclear sector by achieving Fit For Nuclear (F4N) status. The company now has the necessary qualification to tender for contracts to provide fabrications to support nuclear plant construction and operation, as well as decommissioning projects in the sector.

Granted by the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC), the award is designed to ensure that rigorous standards are met within the sector. To achieve the status, businesses undergo questionnaires, self-assessments, site visits, progress reports and independent tests before F4N status is granted on a site-specific basis. It lasts for three years, with businesses listed on the Nuclear AMRC website and profiled on the F4N Connect portal.

Steve Crapper, pre-contract director at ECS, said: “We have historical experience of supplying high-quality fabrications to the nuclear industry through various supply chain partners and have active direct frameworks with nuclear decommissioning clients. Our F4N status indicates a greater readiness and commitment from ECS to meet the needs of clients in the nuclear arena with a flexible, dynamic and expert service.”

Mark Watkins, ECS managing director, said: “For us at ECS, achieving F4N status is part of a continual journey. We identified it as a useful process to aid and implement improvements across the business.

“We have used the F4N status process to drive our Nuclear Strategy document, which sets our pathway to growth in the sector. We will ensure our fabrications business will fully harness the skills and experience we have, which, backed by continuous improvement, will provide a sustainable work stream to bring some real added value to our customer offering and the business.”

ECS is a well-established provider of engineering services to the power, water and infrastructure sectors – often working with local or national companies and governing authorities. Nuclear projects previously supported by ECS include the fabrication of a significant number of steel duct cradles for the main reactor building at a UK nuclear power plant and the manufacture and assembly of off-site built process skids.

The business operates a fabrications facility, equipped with plasma cutting, CNC cutting, milling, drilling, welding facilities, heavy duty cranes and more. Design services operate in close collaboration with the fabrication and engineering teams to provide manufacturing drawings and 3-D CAD modelling to BIM standards.

ECS is accredited to provide steelwork to Execution Class 4 (EXC4) under BS EN 1090-2, illustrating its ability to provide fabrications for the most demanding projects and application areas. These capabilities ensure a turnkey approach to any fabrication project.