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Pictured left to right: Christopher Dane, Director for Business Development, Jacomex and Dave Barker, CEO, Aquila

Aquila strengthens its glovebox capability through collaboration with Jacomex – France

Aquila Nuclear Engineering Ltd has entered an exclusivity agreement with Jacomex – France, enabling Aquila to represent and supply Jacomex custom made gloveboxes to the UK nuclear industry. The agreement is built on exciting synergies shared between the organisations. This collaboration now increases Aquila’s capability in supporting the growing demand for nuclear containments in the UK.

On 10 February 2022, Aquila Nuclear Engineering Ltd and Jacomex of France signed an exclusivity agreement making Aquila the exclusive representative of Jacomex custom made gloveboxes for the nuclear industry in the UK. The arrangement excludes laboratory and pharmaceutical gloveboxes.

The agreement follows a period of positive conversations and factory visits between the parties, and further complements Aquila’s existing links with France: Aquila is the exclusive UK distributor for Getinge La Calhene, and Aquila has most recently become a wholly owned subsidiary of Cyclife – EDF Group.

“This is an exciting opportunity for Aquila and Jacomex as the demand for the highest quality gloveboxes from proven manufacturers is unprecedented, both companies know each other very well and we share the same values; elite and ethical”

Dave Barker, CEO, Aquila

“We are very pleased to strengthen our relationship with Aquila. Our agreement provides both our companies solid ground to build a long-term partnership. I am thankful to the teams at Aquila and Jacomex for their support and enthusiasm in working together to meet the expectations of the challenges ahead.”

Christopher Dane, Director for Business Development, Jacomex

Aquila Nuclear Engineering Ltd
Aquila Nuclear Engineering is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cyclife – EDF Group, with offices and workshops in Winchester, Hampshire, UK. Aquila is commercially active in the following 5 nuclear sectors:

• Decommissioning and Waste
• Plant Life Extension (PLEX) and Fleet Critical
• Nuclear Defence
• Nuclear Science
• Nuclear New Build
• Nuclear Medicines

Jacomex
Jacomex is wholly owned by the Gloveboxes Group, with offices and workshops in Dagneux, Ain, France, and a commercial offices in New Delhi, India. The group is also present in the USA with its subsidiary Inert Corporation, and in Northern France with Erea Pharma.

Jacomex is commercially active in:

• Nuclear Science,
• Nuclear Civil,
• Nuclear Defence,
• Nuclear Medicine

and in several industry sectors including:

• Academic and Laboratory,
• Pharmaceutical, Medicine, Life science,
• Aircraft and Aerospace,
• Chemistry,
• Additive Manufacturing,
• Battery and Solar Panel

TRADE, PRESS & MEDIA CONTACT:
Drew Corbett
Commercial Director, Aquila Nuclear Engineering
dcorbett@cyclifeaquila.com
(0)1962 717000
(0)7852 969150

Cyclife expands its engineering capabilities in UK with the acquisition of Aquila Nuclear Engineering Ltd.

Cyclife, the EDF subsidiary in charge of international dismantling and radioactive waste management services, is pursuing its development in Europe by acquiring complementary engineering capabilities provided by Aquila Nuclear Engineering Ltd.

A key player in the radioactive waste management field through its subsidiary, Cyclife UK, the EDF subsidiary had already expanded its scope of activities in 2020 to be able to additionally offer consultancy and engineering services in the field of dismantling, enabling it to win its first major contracts, notably for graphite reactors.

In order to pursue its development, Cyclife has chosen to acquire 100% of the shared capital of Aquila Nuclear Engineering from Calder Group. From design to manufacturing and commissioning, the company provides turnkey solutions in the fields of containment, shielded installations, remote handling and transport/packaging. The existing management team and all Aquila employees will continue to operate in its core market areas, but will also work closely with Cyclife UK to provide integrated waste led decommissioning solutions in this growing market.

Dave Barker, CEO, and founder of Aquila said:

“This acquisition is testament to the professionalism of the Aquila team and the reputation the business has gained across our nuclear sectors. We are delighted to be part of Cyclife / EDF and could not have chosen a better parent company to continue our success and growth.”

Estelle Desroches, CEO of EDF Cyclife SAS said:

“This acquisition is fully in line with the strategic ambitions of Cyclife / EDF, and will undoubtedly have a significant and synergistic impact on the development of both companies. It allows Cyclife to broaden its range of skills and strengthen its ability to provide integrated dismantling/waste solutions with high added value.”

Cyclife
Cyclife is a subsidiary of the EDF Group dedicated to the dismantling of nuclear facilities and the management of radioactive waste. It combines industrial waste treatment sites in the United Kingdom, Sweden and France with advanced engineering capabilities through its subsidiaries Cyclife Engineering, Graphitech and Cyclife Digital Solutions, which enable it to offer its customers a wide range of complementary services in Europe.

Aquila Nuclear Engineering Ltd
Aquila offers Engineering Solutions in the specialist areas of Glovebox Technology, Shielded Facilities, Remote Handling Systems and Transport and Packaging to the following nuclear markets- decommissioning, new build, defence, science, and medicines.

Cyclife UK
Cyclife UK provides integrated decommissioning and waste management services comprising consultancy, engineering, site project implementation and waste treatment services, principally in the UK.

TRADE, PRESS & MEDIA CONTACT:
Drew Corbett
Commercial Director, Aquila Nuclear Engineering
dcorbett@cyclifeaquila.com
(0)1962 717000
(0)7852 969150

The Aquila team has recently visited Owlesbury Primary School to talk to the children about STEM, presenting to the entire school from Year R up to and including Year 6.

The educational visit is just one initiative driven by the STEM group at Aquila, having already held a week of work experience earlier in the year.

Aquila’s aim was to explain about STEM; putting the topics into practical terms allowing the pupils to engage with, and most importantly, get them excited about STEM subjects. One of the best ways to demonstrate the value of STEM subjects is to draw on the enthusiasm and expertise of people who use STEM every day in their work and so Aquila’s three enthusiastic team members explained a bit more about how STEM is applied in their roles, from engineering and project management, to the the commercial team.

Using year group-specific tasks, and following the presentation, the pupils spent the afternoon in small teams building towers out of materials Aquila had brought along.

Catriona Simpson, Bid Manager, Aquila Nuclear Engineering, said:

“We wanted to see how creative the pupils could be; the brief for each group was slightly different but all had a clear objective. We also added an element of competition to the task for a little extra motivation.

The younger pupils were tasked with making a tower out of spaghetti and plasticine; their objective was to make the tallest tower in their group. The remaining pupils, from Year 3 upwards, had different materials and had the objective of making the tallest tower. However, they were also tasked with ensuring their structure was strong enough to support the weight of an item, and we asked them to think about how the structure would hold the item, for example a hook or platform.

We were so impressed with all the pupils and the energy and creativity they displayed. They all showed great resilience, as in many cases their first idea didn’t work the way they imagined so they needed to change their designs.  And, so importantly, they all worked together in their teams with everyone having an important role and sharing their ideas.”

The afternoon was certainly enjoyed by the Aquila team, the pupils and the teachers alike, and Aquila hopes to have inspired the pupils to keep working on their STEM subjects.

Aquila Nuclear Engineering has been selected by the Sellafield Programme and Project Partners (PPP) to support the design and build of replacement nuclear laboratories.

Under an eight-year framework contract with an estimated value of £9 million, Aquila and its sub-contractor Jacobs will collaboratively modify and integrate complex, high-precision analytical equipment into gloveboxes and shielded hot cells as part of the Replacement Analytical Project (RAP).

Working together, they will combine Aquila’s extensive experience of designing, modifying and installing shielded equipment for the nuclear industry with Jacobs’ fundamental knowledge and operational experience of sensors and instrumentation for high-precision chemical and radiochemical analysis.

“We are delighted to have won this long term contract which not only allows us to provide high level engineering skills from the Aquila pool but also creates a platform to invest in our younger engineers joining the business and establish a presence in West Cumbria,” said Dave Barker, CEO of Aquila Nuclear Engineering.

“This appointment gives us the opportunity to combine complementary skills in chemistry, advanced instrumentation, engineering and nuclear shielding to deliver a world-class analytical solution which will play a vital role in Sellafield Ltd’s mission to create a clean and safe environment for future generations,” said Greg Willetts, Vice President for Technology and Cyber Solutions, Jacobs Critical Mission Solutions International.

RAP is one of several major projects which are considered essential for the environmental clean-up of Sellafield, the most complex nuclear site in the UK. It involves works to modify the on-site National Nuclear Laboratory Central Laboratory facility to incorporate new analytical testing to support site operational missions over the next 30 years by analysing low, medium and high active material on behalf of 200 internal customers.

The project is being delivered by PPP, which was set up by Sellafield Ltd to deliver major projects and site wide project delivery improvements over the next 20 years.

We are pleased to announce the appointment of John Adams to the Board of Directors of Aquila Nuclear Engineering Ltd.

John will take the position of Engineering and Projects Director, reporting to Dave Barker, from the 1st August 2020.

John started at Aquila in May 2012. He has been pivotal in developing the performance and culture of the delivery team, which is recognised in the industry as top class.

We are sure you will all applaud and support John in his new role.