Rolls-Royce SMR launches digital innovation challenge
Rolls-Royce SMR has issued a challenge to industry, calling for ideas around monitoring and data collection during the transport of modules used to construct its Small Modular Reactor (SMR).
A contract worth up to £100,000 is available for the winner with an opportunity to supply systems, techniques, technology and services to the programme, which will deploy a fleet of Rolls-Royce SMRs around the globe.
Rolls-Royce SMR’s unique ‘factory-built’ nuclear power plant is a British solution to a global energy crisis - with each plant producing enough stable, affordable, emission-free electricity to power a million homes for at least 60 years.
UK factories will produce hundreds of prefabricated and pre-tested modules ready for assembly on site into a complete power station – drastically reducing cost and time when compared to large ‘gigawatt’ scale nuclear power plants.
The challenge, launched in partnership with Innovate UK Business Connect via its Innovation Exchange programme, will seek proposals on how to track the modules throughout their journey from the factory and monitor changes in real time.
Greg Wilkinson, Rolls-Royce SMR’s Research and Technology Manager, said: “Our modular approach is unique within the nuclear industry but is widely used and well proven across the oil and gas and renewables sectors. We want to use the latest digital technology to ensure the quality of our prefabricated and pre-tested modules as they arrive on site for assembly into the finished power station.
“This is a chance for specialists in the nuclear industry, and much further afield, to come on board and use their expertise on our ‘once in a generation’ project… We are looking for the best innovation that the UK has to offer.”
To find out more about the challenge and how you can get involved, please visit our IUK Business Connect website.
