All Four UK Pre-Licensing Applications 'Meet Eligibility Criteria'
Written by NucNet
Friday, 06 July 2007
The Nuclear Communications Network World Nuclear Review - week ending 6th July 2007 / WNR N°27/07
6 Jul (NucNet): All four applications received by UK regulators for the opening phase of generic design assessment (GDA) of new nuclear reactors have met the eligibility criteria, the government has announced.
The designs - from Atomic Energy of Canada, Areva, GE-Hitachi and
Toshiba-Westinghouse - are now eligible for the first stage of the
pre-licensing process. The process will be handled by the Office for
Civil Nuclear Security, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate and the
Environment Agency, all overseen by the Joint Programme Office.
The nuclear consultation document, "The Future of Nuclear Power: The
Role of Nuclear Power in a Low Carbon UK Economy," published alongside
the energy white paper in May 2007, invited applications from vendors
of nuclear reactor designs for GDA, or pre-licensing, and set out the
eligibility criteria.
The government's newly formed Department for Business, Enterprise and
Regulatory Reform said in a statement on 5 July 2007 that starting the
first steps in the "detailed and lengthy" GDA process is a prudent step
to keeping open the option of new nuclear power plants.
If successful in phase one, which includes an assessment of the safety
case for each reactor design, a design could progress to phase two of
the GDA, where the designs will be assessed in more detail.
The department said it is likely that the number of designs considered
during phase two will be reduced from four to three due to resource
constraints of the regulators.
The government is holding a consultation exercise on nuclear energy
until mid-October 2007 and is likely to announce its final policy
conclusions related to potential new nuclear build towards the end of
the year.
All nuclear related work, including GDA, is progressing on a
contingency basis and would be stopped if the government concludes it
will not support the building of new nuclear units.
Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
Energy Giants Prepare For UK New Build (News No. 127, 23 May 2007)
Areva Launches EPR Pre-Licensing Process In UK (News No. 151, 20 June 2007)
GE-Hitachi Starts UK Pre-Licensing Process For ESBWR (News No. 154, 22 June 2007)
