Westinghouse SMR design accepted for UK review

Tuesday, 27 August 2024

GDA is a process carried out by the Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency - and where applicable Natural Resources Wales - to assess the safety, security, and environmental protection aspects of a nuclear power plant design that is intended to be deployed in Great Britain. Successful completion of the GDA culminates in the issue of a Design Acceptance Confirmation from the ONR and a Statement of Design Acceptability from the EA. In May 2021, BEIS opened the GDA process to advanced nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors (SMRs).

Westinghouse applied in February this year for its AP300 design to undergo the GDA process.

With DESNZ's approval, the SMR design will enter the first of the two-step GDA process, during which the scope of the GDA based on information supplied by Westinghouse to the regulators will be agreed. Step 2 is where the detailed technical assessment by the regulators is carried out.

The 300 MWe reactor design is based on Westinghouse's AP1000 technology, a design which is already licensed in the UK. AP1000 units have regulatory approval - and are in operation - in China and the USA and the design is also compliant with European Utility Requirements standards for nuclear power plants. Westinghouse says this brings licensing advantages and substantially reduces delivery risk for customers.

"We would like to thank the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero for their swift and positive consideration of our application to enter the AP300 Small Modular Reactor for Generic Design Assessment," said Westinghouse Energy Systems President Dan Lipman. "The UK's familiarity with the AP300's underpinning technology and our strong track record of licensing success in the UK and globally give us confidence that we will move through the GDA process at pace."

In a statement, Westinghouse said: "Unlike every other SMR under development with first-of-a-kind technologies and risks, Westinghouse's AP300 SMR utilises the AP1000 engineering, components and supply chain, enabling streamlined licensing and leveraging available technical skills. Together, these factors provide confidence that the first operating unit will be available in the early 2030s."

Westinghouse was one of six SMR suppliers shortlisted in October last year to bid for support from the UK government as part of plans to quadruple the country's nuclear energy capacity to 24 GW by 2050, and earlier this year announced it had signed an agreement with Community Nuclear Power Limited to construct four AP300s in northeast England. This would be the UK's first privately-financed SMR fleet.

Generic Design Assessments have previously been completed for the EDF/Areva UK EPR, the Westinghouse AP1000, the Hitachi-GE UK ABWR and the CGN/EDF/GNI UK HPR1000 designs. A GDA assessment is currently ongoing for Rolls-Royce SMR Limited's small modular reactor design, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy's BWRX-300 SMR design and Holtec International's SMR-300.