British Agencies Grant Interim OK to New Reactor Designs
The Office for Nuclear Regulation issued interim Design Acceptance Confirmations and the Environment Agency issued interim Statements of Design Acceptability for both.
Having completed safety assessments of two proposed new nuclear reactors to be built in the United Kingdom, two British oversight agencies have granted interim acceptance of their designs, the Health and Safety Executive reports. HSE said the Office for Nuclear Regulation issued interim Design Acceptance Confirmations and the Environment Agency issued interim Statements of Design Acceptability for both.
The agencies said they're satisfied with how the designers of EDF and Areva's UK EPR and Westinghouse's AP1000® reactors –- both are pressurized water reactor designs -- intend to resolve issues identified in a report written by the UK's chief inspector of nuclear installations, Mike Weightman, about the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crisis.
Neither reactor can be built until the issues are resolved. The Environment Agency published two decision documents explaining its decisions and responding to the issues raised during consultations in 2010. HSE said there are 14 final assessment reports for each design covering topics such as radioactive waste, spent fuel, monitoring of radioactive disposals, and management systems.