[W]ood today launched a new fund that will invest in technologies for nuclear decommissioning developed by small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
The aim of the Wood Nuclear Innovation Fund is to bring about a step change in the decommissioning or dismantling process at nuclear facilities by finding new ways to minimise human intervention, increase productivity and optimise waste treatment, packing and routing.
Bob MacDonald, CEO of Specialist Technical Solutions at Wood, said: “The UK government and Nuclear Decommissioning Authority wants industry to deliver safer, cheaper and faster decommissioning and to meet this challenge, it will be necessary to deploy new or existing technologies in ingenious and innovative ways.
“Wood is already investing seedcorn funding in a number of areas, including our SIAL nuclear waste encapsulation technology, and now we are inviting SMEs to put forward investment-ready proposals.
“Successful investment in technology by the fund will enable SMEs to grow and help us to achieve our objective of becoming the most sought after and trusted provider of waste management and decommissioning solutions.”
Wood’s technical experts will assess all proposals and successful SMEs will also be assisted by the commercial, operations and business development teams.
Wood’s nuclear business employs more than 1,300 people in the North West of England, mainly at Knutsford and Birchwood in Cheshire and at Sellafield and Whitehaven in Cumbria.
