Rapid Engineering Model.

It would be too costly to be attractive to utilities companies and plant owners.It would be too risky because of the typical levels of cost uncertainty in nuclear projects.

It would take too long and be too disruptive to do the required refurbishments.It would be too risky because of the typical levels of programme uncertainty in these types of projects.It would be impossible to review and approve the design to ensure the required quality for these types of highly regulated buildings.

It would be impossible to get the required supply chain capacity for the required design, manufacture, and construction capabilities.. What we need is a fundamental rethink with regards to the future of coal and how nuclear facilities are conceived, designed, procured, and delivered.Instead of approaching this task as thousands of individual refurbishments, we need to have a unified approach where the design is simplified and standardised in such a way that a much wider range of designers, manufacturers and contractors can participate, and the design knowledge is embedded in building systems and design tools so that everyone involved can benefit from the learning on all the other projects.. To achieve this, we are working with Terra Praxis and their wider team, including specialists from MIT, University at Buffalo, Microsoft and KPMG, to:.

Reduce, rationalise, standardise and optimise the building and engineering systems that are needed for a refurbished plant, in order to.

Reduce, rationalise, standardise and optimise the design, approval, manufacture, assembly and operation processes, in order to.Once the core parameters and rules are in place and the environment is enabled, the overall project can advance incrementally, demonstrating benefits and value as it goes.. As with many instances of progress, there may be vested interests that might object to aspects of this project from a position of self-interest.

We cannot deal with them here.This project will shine a light on what is possible.. Further applications: the benefits to government and local plans.

The solutions may be different, but the principles we are exploring here have very positive ramifications for other areas.. Local/central government: the principle of making information interoperable and shareable, or policies more machine-readable and rules-based, while smoothing flow of information ‘before use’, is applicable in many areas: domestic planning, perhaps, where we could unblock permitted development and focus more on sustainable development; or major infrastructure projects where incompatible information systems breed wasted time and resources.. Local plans: are all based on evidence, which is all based on data.Data fixed in time is by definition out of date, while digitisation in the holistic context – as this project is demonstrating – gives us the opportunity to keep data and evidence current, informing and improving engagement and decision-making.. Next steps: collaboration to foster continuous improvement.