In 2010 ten sites were given apporval for new nuclear power plants in the UK.  Since then the UK Government has reduced the number to eight (Bradwell, Essex; Hartlepool; Heysham, Lancashire; Hinkley Point, Somerset; Oldbury, Gloucestershire; Sellafield, Cumbria; Sizewell, Suffolk; and Wylfa, Anglesey), all of them adjacent to existing nuclear power plants.

Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process for new nuclear reactor designs

At the end of last year, generic designs for two nuclear reactors, EDF and Areva’s UK EPR and Westinghouse’s AP1000, were granted interim design acceptance.  For both designs, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has issued interim Design Acceptance Confirmations and the Environment Agency (EA) has issued interim Statements of Design Acceptability. These were granted after Step 4 of the GDA process was completed for each of these reactor designs (UK EPR and AP1000).

A number of design issues identified during the GDA process will need to be resolved before either of these reactor designs can be implemented in the UK.  The scope of the Step 4 technical assessment did not include Fukushima as the accident occurred after the Step 4 submissions were provided to ONR and EA. To ensure that the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident are considered within the GDA, ONR formally added a GDA issue specifically to address lessons learned as a result of the Fukushima accident,  In response both Westinghouse and EDF and AREVA have provided plans to address the lessons learned from the Fukushima accident.  This issue as well as other GDA issues will have to be resolved before the GDA process is considered complete.

Last week France and the UK signed a joint framework for cooperating in the development of civil nuclear energy including education and training, research and development, and security.