Exclusive: Newburgh secures £20m nuclear reactor contract

The Rotherham-based family firm will supply in-core reactor fuel components to be used at British nuclear power stations.

The 10-year deal with Springfields Fuels, a subsidiary of Westinghouse, is a landmark for Newburgh Engineering, which was set up in 1939 and today has 105 staff. Westinghouse Electric Company, which is controlled by Japan's Toshiba Corporation, is a major player in the nuclear industry and has 14,000 workers around the world.

Newburgh will provide components for Springfields, which is based in Preston at a former BNFL site. It said it won the contract after competing with foreign rivals on quality control, production and health and safety systems for the nuclear fuel industry.

Vincent Middleton, managing director of Newburgh, said: "This is fantastic for our team, who have been working hard for over 12 months to secure this contract. It is testament to the skills and expertise of our staff and the systems we have in place here that we have been selected from strong UK and international competition to work with Springfields Fuels.

"We are looking forward to building on our long-term partnership with them as we embark on this exciting contract."

The deal will be worth a basic 10m and could rise to 20m depending on the future of Britain's existing reactors.

The country is set for a new generation of nuclear power stations and earlier this year Chris Huhne, the Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said Britain is on track to have new nuclear power stations operating by 2018, with a number of potential sites identified

If the Government extends the life of a nuclear reactor then it will need more fuel to sustain it, and more components, Mr Middleton added.

Newburgh, which currently turns over 10m, is a specialist manufacturer of component parts and assemblies for the nuclear, defence, oil and gas, petrochemical, aerospace and power generation industries.

It is set to expand significantly on the back of its contract with Westinghouse.

Work for the nuclear industry currently makes up about 25 per cent of the firm's business, with the rest concentrated on defence, power generation and, to a lesser extent, defence aerospace.

The deal with Springfields is a boost for Newburgh and comes as growth in Britain's manufacturing industry picks up sharply.

"The economy has come round and this year we (Newburgh) are almost back to pre-recession levels. We have been in the nuclear industry since the 1950s.

"We have supplied it and believed in it."

The firm has been working with Westinghouse for between 30 and 40 years, Mr Middleton said.

Bob McKenzie, product engineering manager at Springfields Fuels, said: "We are delighted to maintain our partnership with Newburgh Engineering who have supplied us with quality components for many years."

Springfields manufactures fuel assemblies for EDF Energy's fleet of advanced gas-cooled reactors and produces thousands of tonnes of uranium hexafluoride and uranium powder for export each year.

Newburgh, established in 1939 by Mr Middleton's grandfather, Isaac Middleton, has been producing products for the nuclear industry since the 1950s.

It is owned by family shareholders and a family trust and Mr Middleton said it was a not a "lifestyle business", with profits re-invested rather than being used to fund the lives of its directors.

Both Newburgh and Westinghouse work closely with the Nuclear Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in South Yorkshire. Newburgh has manufacturing sites in Rotherham and at Bradwell in the Hope Valley, Derbyshire.

Last year it manufactured a test rig that helped in the development of the wheel design for the Bloodhound SSC, a supercar that is capable of achieving a top speed of 1,000 mph.

Leading way to recovery

Manufacturing is growing at the fastest rate since 1994, with firms poised to create jobs as cuts are made in the public sector, according to a new report by the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF).

It said the survey of 300 companies, which showed that most planned to invest in their business, illustrated the potential of manufacturing to create jobs and "rebalance" the UK economy.

Terry Scuoler, chief exec-utive, said: "Manufacturing is well-placed to fill the growth gap as the public sector plays a smaller role in our economy and make the investments in innovation and skills that will drive our economy forward and create new jobs. But this will only happen if there is a genuine partnership with government."

The coalition will soon publish a manufacturing framework, outlining its importance to the recovery.