Britain: An official handbook > 1959

INDUSTRY
315
Boilers and Boilerhouse Plant
Boilers and boilerhouse plant manufactured in the United Kingdom have many
industrial applications. Water tube boilers of advanced design and large steam¬
raising capacity are produced by the industry for home power stations and for
export. Firms in the industry are members of the groups formed for the purpose
of building nuclear power stations, both in the United Kingdom and overseas.
In 1957, deliveries of shell boilers, used for steam raising and heating purposes
in factories and in buildings, were valued at £11 million, of which nearly £2
million worth was for export.
The total number of persons employed in the manufacture of boilers and
boilerhouse plant in 1957 was about 33,000. The value of the industry’s exports in
1957 was £16-4 million, including £7-9 million for water tube boilers.
Items of steam-raising plant accessories produced include plain and corrugated
boiler furnaces, forced draught boiler furnaces and grates, stokers, fuel economisers
and preheaters, superheaters and desuperheaters, pulverisers, coal and ash handling
plant, soot blower equipment, steam pipework, and feed water heaters. The value
of deliveries of these products in 1957 was about £18 million, of which some
16 per cent was for export.
Nuclear Power Station Plant
The design and construction of nuclear power stations is one of the outstanding
present-day enterprises of British industry. Five major groups of firms have been
formed for this purpose, consisting of leading firms in the heavy electrical engineer¬
ing, civil engineering, boiler, instrument, and associated industries. In addition to
the nuclear power stations being built for the United Kingdom electricity authori¬
ties, these groups are undertaking the first export orders for such stations, including
one to be built in Italy. Design teams from the companies concerned have been
trained by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) in the design
of gas-cooled graphite-moderated reactors, and the Authority grants them non¬
exclusive manufacturing licences and keeps them informed of the results of
further research and development work. Industrial firms themselves are also
engaged on research into a range of problems relating to nuclear energy.
Other concerns have also joined together to carry out research into nuclear
developments and to supply nuclear power plant. Two have arrangements with
United States firms to supply ‘package’ type reactors designed to serve less
developed countries. Others, in collaboration with the UKAEA, are studying further
possible applications of nuclear power, for example marine propulsion. Companies
have also been established for the manufacture, machining and preparation of
graphite for use in reactors. The services of United Kingdom firms of consulting
engineers are being utilised for specification planning, inspection and advice.
The Nuclear Energy Trade Associations’ Conference (NETAC) was formed
towards the end of 1956 to establish a permanent means of liaison and to pool more
effectively the experience of nuclear development among the firms and trade
associations concerned.
Steelworks Plant
As a major steel-producing country, Britain has an expanding industry for the
manufacture of steelworks plant. Up to 1939, production fell considerably short
of internal requirements. The post-war modernisation and expansion of the United
Kingdom steel industry have led to the rapid development of the steelworks plant
industry, which today provides about nine-tenths of the requirements of the