Sheffield Forgemasters has passed its final audit towards ASME NPT status to become one of the few UK companies able to fabricate safety critical cast components within nuclear power stations.
As a result of the audit, Sheffield Forgemasters (SFIL) will await an accreditation certificate which signals the green light to take on a whole new strand of civil nuclear manufacture, complementing its status as an American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) certified Nuclear Materials Organisation.a
SFIL’s NPT status will enable the company to weld-fabricate the components it currently supplies as a Nuclear Materials Organisation – a part of the nuclear assembly process that few organisations can undertake and one with significant challenges posed by weld-joining different materials.
David Street, group quality director, at SFIL, said: “The audit to gain NPT status is a significant landmark for the company, which is the culmination of several years of work to establish enhanced requirements and disciplines embracing all our processes, employees and sub suppliers.
“This is to ensure we meet the exacting construction requirements of the ASME code, which are some of the most stringent demands in modern engineering.”
Once SFIL secures NPT accreditation, it will sit with one of its key customers, Rolls Royce, as one of the only UK companies qualified for main component fabrication within the heart of a civil nuclear power plant.
