In response to the British government’s green light to a new generation of nuclear power stations, Sheffield Forgemasters (SF) is giving “serious consideration” to building a huge 15,000-ton forging press. The open-die press would be one of the largest in the world and would be capable of manufacturing the giant component parts required for nuclear power stations. The nuclear-power initiative is expected to give the region a big business boost. Should the projects move forward, 200-year-old SF is one of the few forging specialists in the world with the knowledge and experience to produce the highly engineered components required for the latest generation of nuclear power plants.

Sheffield Forgemasters is making components weighing a total of almost 670 metric tons for SMS Meer. The first contract involved Forgemasters pouring 388 metric tons of liquid steel into a specially designed mold to make what will become the 168-metric-ton foundation platen or base of a closed-die press for Italian company Ringmill. Forgemasters is also making three parts for a 10,000-metric-ton press that will be installed at Allvac’s North Carolina plant.