Nuclear software technology company wins £350k NWDA grant

StructureVision Ltd, a University of Leeds spin-out company, has been awarded a £350,000 Grant for Research and Development (GRAND) from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) to help develop a tool that will contribute significantly to the deployment of a world class nuclear clean up programme.

The Company, which received early stage funding from IP Group plc and White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund, provides innovative software solutions to enhance safety and provide major efficiency benefits to the nuclear waste management sector. The development of this new digital modelling tool will mark a major technological breakthrough in the nuclear industry.

The working principle of the technology lies in its ability to analyse and consequently model object interaction enabling the packing of objects into confined spaces such as containers. It will be launched as the world's first wholly digitally based industrial packing analysis tool. It will also be able to analyse and predict the most appropriate cutting lines for the cutting up and disposal of Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) during a decommissioning process.

The total market that StructureVision seeks to take advantage of is worth around £2.5bn in waste products each year; of which £1.8bn are projects that could use this technology, according to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The company's target market for the new product over the course of the next 10 years is around £100m.

The project has received strong support from the two technical advisors, the National Computing Centre and the National Physical Laboratory, who have confirmed the highly innovative nature of the project and the excellent market prospects.

Bob Ward, Chief Executive Officer of StructureVision, said: “We are delighted to have received the exceptional research and development grant from the Northwest Development Agency. This extra funding is crucial to our NuPlant project development plan and allows us to deliver a best in class product for the nuclear industry within the next two years.”

Mark Hughes, Executive Director for Enterprise and Skills at the NWDA, said: “The NWDA manages and funds a number of business finance solutions designed to help businesses start up and grow. The GRAND grants are aimed at encouraging businesses to carry out those R&D projects that they would not necessarily undertake without the grant and assist them in levering in finance from the private sector.”

The NWDA grant follows news that StructureVision signed a key partnership agreement with British Nuclear Group Project Services as well as appointed Neville Chamberlain CBE, the former Chief Executive of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) and former Chairman of Urenco, as its Chairman.

In November 2006, StructureVision secured the investment of £300,000 equity financing from both IP Group plc, the intellectual property commercialisation company, and the White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund, which provides funding for spin-out companies from the universities of Leeds, York and Sheffield.