Steel Bricks™, the UK-based modular steel construction system developed by MWS, and with involvement by Caunton Engineering, has been included in a multi-million dollar funding programme to be delivered within the U.S. DOE’s Advanced Construction Technology (ACT) initiative, aimed at making advanced nuclear construction faster and more affordable to build. GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, the world-leading provider of nuclear power plant technology, is leading a team which includes Caunton Engineering to explore promising technologies from other industries that have not been tested within the context of nuclear energy.
MWS’s patented Steel Bricks ™ is a revolutionary modular construction system described by GEH’s Vice President Brian Johnston as a ‘second generation steel composite structure with a design expected to have no rebar in the nuclear island, which, compared to existing nuclear plant design, dramatically reduces the amount of construction labour in the field.’
The project reached a major milestone this week with the SteelBricks™ prototype modules being ready for shipment from Caunton Engineering to Purdue University, Illinois. The modules and fabrication lessons learned were reviewed by a team from GEH, Aecon Group, Black and Veatch, Modular Walling Systems and Caunton Engineering in Nottingham. The photographs show the team assembled, and their inspecting the modules. Next, the modules will be shipped and tested in the Bowen Laboratory at Purdue University, Illinois.