Feature image is of Hinkley Point C Power Plant. Sizewell C Power Plant will be a near replica of Hinkley Point C. Credit: EDF ENERGY
- Delivery of the UK’s latest flagship nuclear plant will benefit from Egis’s 75-year global heritage in world-leading nuclear projects
- Sizewell C joins Hinkley Point C and the acquisition of Galson Sciences in 2021 as part of a major investment commitment to the UK from Egis Group
Egis, a leading global consulting, construction engineering and operating firm, today announces it has been appointed to support EDF Energy in the delivery of Sizewell C - a landmark project to plan, design and build two European Pressure Reactors (EPRs) located on the east coast of Suffolk. Egis is a €1.16bn turnover international group which operates worldwide and has a global workforce of 16,000 employees. Egis is the architect engineer for the world’s most ambitious nuclear projects having started with France’s first nuclear power plant back in 1947.
As lead design engineer of the ‘ICOSH consortium’ made up of Jacobs UK, SETEC TPI and Tractebel Engineering, Egis and its partners will deliver the civil detailed designs for the nuclear island which is the ‘heart’ of the power plant, including the reactor, fuel and safeguarding buildings. These buildings are the most complex and important structures that will be built on the nuclear island, needing to meet extremely high safety and safeguarding standards.
Egis has supported Sizewell C since 2020, creating replication studies of the nuclear island buildings at Hinkley Point C to use at Sizewell C, and geo-technical studies to define the soil-structure interaction. Sizewell C will include two new state-of-the-art EPRs that wherever possible, will be replica designs developed during the construction of the sister plant, Hinkley Point C – where Egis was also appointed to deliver the civil engineering designs and the geotechnical studies. The use of a standardised design is the optimum method of reducing construction and operational risk – supporting the UK to bring more nuclear power projects in future.
When complete, Sizewell C will be capable of powering six million homes, equivalent to 7% of the UK’s energy needs and will generate electricity for 60 years. The project is thought to be pivotal in helping the UK meet its net zero targets by 2050 and will provide a vital boost to the country’s energy security.
Laurent Germain, Group CEO of Egis said: “We are proud to be working on another fundamental project for the UK’s energy infrastructure. The UK has a great opportunity to boost its energy security and reduce carbon emissions through nuclear.
Our relatively recent acquisition of Galson Sciences who specialise in radioactive waste management and our appointment to some of the UK’s most significant energy projects, demonstrates our continued commitment and success in helping solve some of the UK’s biggest infrastructure challenges. We welcome the opportunity to continue combining our decades of UK expertise and global insights and applying this to the full lifecycle of these landmark projects”.
Bertrand Michoud, SWC Director of Engineering and Delivery, EDF Energy said: “Sizewell C will be a near replica of Hinkley Point C which means we’re able to easily take all the learnings and innovation from that project to build this new power station at lower cost. Working with the same trusted supply chain partners is also really important to give us confidence in our delivery. We’re delighted that Egis and the ICOSH consortium are supporting us once again to deliver this complex part of the project”
The appointment to Sizewell C comes as Egis continues investing in the UK, particularly in the Nuclear Energy sector where it acquired nuclear research and consultancy firm, Galson Sciences last year. For the delivery of Egis’s Hinkley Point C project, it has over 450 specialist nuclear employees staffed from across its global operations working on the UK’s landmark nuclear reactors. These specialists will transition from Hinkley Point C bringing their direct expertise and experience to the Sizewell C project as it develops.
Egis has a long-standing involvement in nuclear power-related activities contributing to the design of all the French technology nuclear power plants since 1947, helping to make France the world’s second largest country for nuclear reactors, after the United States.
