Five key take aways from Mott MacDonald’s Nuclear Know-How structural calculator webinar

How automation is improving structural engineering in nuclear projects

What are the biggest opportunities and challenges facing structural engineering teams in nuclear? Experts from industry and Mott MacDonald shared their views on the impact of automation in a recent Nuclear Know-How webinar. These were the five hottest topics.

As nuclear programmes gather pace, structural engineering teams face increasingly complex design challenges, whether in new build, decommissioning or life extension. Finite element analysis (FEA) helps engineers understand how structures behave under demanding load conditions, including seismic events and soil-structure interaction. But as models become larger and more complicated, the post-processing of that analysis can become a major bottleneck.

The recent Nuclear Know-How webinar explored how innovation in structural calculation is starting to address this. The session focused on Mott MacDonald’s cloud-based structural calculator, a tool designed to streamline post-processing of complex FEA models. Developed over nine years by nuclear structural engineers and software specialists, it is already helping to improve design processes on nuclear projects.

Joining host Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) head of communication, Iolo James, were Mott MacDonald technical director in digital, Mariana Asinari, AWE lead technical authority for civil structure and architecture, Duncan Lillistone, Mott MacDonald nuclear technical director, Daniel Penna, and product lead for the structural calculator, Tom Holdsworth.

The webinar is available to watch in full but here are the top five takeaways from the discussion.

1. Large-scale nuclear design demands a different approach

“The manual spreadsheets and the hand checks alone are just not scalable or robust enough.”
Mariana Asinari, Mott MacDonald

The value of the structural calculator starts with understanding the scale and complexity of nuclear projects. Without it, engineers need to manually extract analysis results, move data between spreadsheets and repeat checks when designs change. That process can be slow and difficult to apply consistently across very large models.

The structural calculator takes FEA outputs directly from analysis packages and applies a standardised workflow across thousands of elements in a single run. This makes reassessment more robust, repeatable and less vulnerable to transcription errors.

The most immediate benefit is time saved. Benchmarking across projects has shown around a 23% average time saving for post-processing activities, but the wider value is what that enables. Engineers can spend less effort on obtaining results and more on interpreting them and identifying critical areas – all of which are vital in complex, fast-moving nuclear projects.

2. Traceability is non-negotiable

“My concern is always the black box effect… We need software that allows engineers to interrogate the results. We need to see the why.”
Duncan Lillistone, AWE

For organisations working in highly regulated environments, the challenge is not simply whether a tool can process complex calculations, but whether its outputs can be trusted, explained and defended. If tools like the structural calculator are to be widely adopted, they need to address organisational concerns. Avoiding the “black box” effect – where software is treated like a sealed box: you can see what goes in and what comes out, but you can’t easily see what happens inside – is top of the list.

Other talking points were around maintaining engineering judgement, proving verification and validation, meeting client-specific cybersecurity requirements and understanding where the tool is – and isn’t – the right solution. Its value, therefore, depends on more than automation. It depends on transparent workflows, robust assurance and clear boundaries, so engineers and clients can have confidence in how the tool is being used.

3. Nuclear clients need flexible solutions

“It’s designed to be modular… It’s set to be adaptable to design code updates and also new capabilities as the demands on projects arise.”
Tom Holdsworth, Mott MacDonald

Nuclear projects rarely follow a single, fixed calculation route. Teams may need to work across different finite element packages, respond to client-specific requirements and apply different design codes, including ACI and Eurocode. For clients, that means confidence depends not only on the quality of the calculation, but on whether the process can adapt as project needs evolve. A modular approach helps teams respond to design changes, code updates and new assessment requirements without rebuilding workflows from scratch. It also supports a more consistent basis for decision-making across complex programmes, where requirements can change over time.

4. Automation should strengthen engineering judgement

“It’s not the software that’s the authority, it’s the engineer. The best tools should empower the judgment of the engineer, not replace it.”
Duncan Lillistone, AWE

Automation has the greatest value when it removes repetitive tasks while preserving the engineer’s ability to understand, challenge and explain the design. The structural calculator gives users access to the assumptions, limitations and calculation steps behind the outputs, helping junior engineers build confidence in first principles rather than treating software results as definitive. With senior checking, review and approval still central to nuclear delivery, automation can free engineers to focus on higher-value technical judgement.

5. The potential reaches far beyond nuclear

“It’s first going to spread to other sectors. We’re already seeing this starting to happen. And then it’s going to spread to other disciplines across the Group.”
Daniel Penna, Mott MacDonald

Water, renewables, undersea cables and complex buildings are among the areas where the structural calculator could have value beyond nuclear. These sectors often need to manage specialist calculations at scale and may also need to validate complex structures without relying solely on off-the-shelf software. Although its origins are in highly regulated nuclear design, the structural calculator has been built as a modular platform. It can evolve with different design codes and client requirements. By centralising calculations in a secure, governed environment, it can help protect technical know-how and reduce the risk of misuse. It also gives teams confidence that methods are built once, tested thoroughly and reused consistently. As its use expands, the opportunity is not simply to automate more tasks; it is to create a trusted library of calculations that can support complex engineering work across sectors and disciplines.

Ultimately, the webinar showed that structural calculation innovation is not simply about doing things faster. It is about giving engineers better tools to interrogate data and build confidence in complex designs. It also highlighted the importance of the human touch. The structural calculator might take away the manual load from engineers, but interpretating and applying the results – the high-value work – is still best done by people.