Ansaldo NES
Strong to the core
With roots dating back as far as 1810, Ansaldo NES represents a proven solution provider for the design and manufacture of bespoke engineering solutions to the nuclear, new build, defence and decommissioning sectors. The company secured its first nuclear contract in 1955 to supply the reactor housing for the UK’s Dounreay site. following the success of this operation, Ansaldo NES quickly became a trusted player within the nuclear industry, specialising in highly bespoke design engineering. To date the company has provided critical components for applications including fuel routes, remote handling, inspection, encapsulation, waste handling, glove boxes, shielded containment and reprocessing to most of the UK’s nuclear power stations.
The company operated as Nuclear Engineering Services (NES) until 2014, when NES announced that the company had ben purchased by Italian nuclear engineering specialist Ansaldo Nucleare, a 
subsidiary of Ansaldo Energia (AEN) – an international expert in power generation operating with over 3300 employees worldwide. The sale was valued at some €36 million and allowed the newly rebranded Ansaldo NES to offer an even broader range of services to meet the evolving needs of the international market, particularly in the UK with its promising market for decommissioning and the construction of newbuild nuclear power plants.
As of 2016 the range of services provided by Ansaldo NES covers the entire life cycle of nuclear power plant, new build and defence activities. The company specialises in design from concept through to detail, manufacturing, assembly, test, installation and commissioning of unique engineering designs, manufactured products and services. In terms of engineering experience Ansaldo NES delivers innovation through all stages of the design life of contracts. With over six decades of accumulated experience, nuclear culture is deeply engrained into the company’s engineering department. This places Ansaldo NES in a unique position to work closely with the client to ensure a clear understanding of the exacting requirements of each project, ensuring that the final solution not only meets but exceeds client expectations.
Core to its culture of nuclear engineering excellence, is the use of proven technology. This is used as the basis for design and integration of innovative solutions from other high-integrity markets, including oil and gas, chemical and pharmaceutical and the further application of them to the nuclear environment. This is further underpinned by the company’s belief in getting each project completed correctly the first time. This is achieved through the use of specialist 3D design tools and finite element analysis (FEA) software, which allows Ansaldo NES to ensure that the transition from concept to design to manufacturing is a continual process. This results in leading-edge innovation amalgamated with practical solutions. To further ensure excellent results both today and into the future, the engineering department at Ansaldo NES in comprised of both time-served nuclear experienced engineers and a number of nuclear graduates working through the company’s 
graduate engineering scheme. This scheme has been accredited by IMechE’s Professional Development Standards Committee for the development of Incorporated Engineers (IEng) and Chartered Engineers (CEng) and plays an important role in ‘future-proofing’ the business for the needs of tomorrow’s nuclear industry.
Further to its comprehensive base of bespoke engineering services, Ansaldo NES embraces project management as a core competence of the business, guiding projects in accordance to best industry practices. The company’s project management capacity is structured to deliver multi-disciplined engineering solutions through dedicated integrated project teams (IPT) to the nuclear decommissioning, defence and nuclear new build markets.
Ansaldo NES maintains an impressive track record for the delivery of project management services into the defence market, with specialist tooling and techniques developed for work on the current UK submarine fleet, while it also represents an approved supplier to the MoD. The company has provided onsite servicing and spares to the MoD for over 20 years and its presence within the commercial market is equally impressive with clients including Sellafield Ltd, Babcock, Nuvia, eDF, Rolls Royce, Areva, Magnox and Costain. With Sellafield Ltd in particular, Ansaldo NES enjoys a longstanding relationship as a trusted Tier 2 supplier. Projects include the provision of three silo emptying plant machines, each weighing 500 tonnes. The first of these is already assembled on site and will be commissioned and tested for operations during 2017, while the second is under construction and the third remains in the design stage.
Despite the current uncertainty within the global market, Ansaldo NES remains in a strong position to deliver technically demanding projects to clients throughout its core industry sectors. During March 2016 for example, the company was awarded an £88 million contract set to last ten years to supply cranes to Sellafield in a joint venture with a French crane manufacturer. The Reel/Ansaldo NES international joint venture will provide cranes that are intended to speed up the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) 100- year programme to clean up the site. This project represents part of the wider strategy of Ansaldo NES over the coming years. The company attended the Paris World Nuclear Conference during June 2016, where it announced its focus on working more closely with is parent business, Ansaldo Nucleare and to officially launch the venture as a single business. As the venture moves forward, Ansaldo NES will continue to look for opportunities to tender for projects jointly, making the company a trusted and valuable player in the nuclear and defen e industries.
Ansaldo NES
Services: Design and engineering solutions