ONR and the Environment Agency conduct their assessment in a step-wise approach with the assessments becoming increasingly detailed at each step. They publish their findings in a suite of reports at the end of Steps 2, 3 & 4, which can be accessed from the GDA Reports page.
Involved initial discussions between the designers and the regulators to agree requirements and how the process would be applied.
An overview of the fundamental acceptability of the proposed reactor design concept to identify design aspects or safety shortfalls that could prevent construction in the UK.
A system design safety and security review of the proposed reactor designs. This included examination of the design at system level and analysing supporting arguments made by the design companies.
A thorough and detailed examination of the evidence, on a sampling basis, given by the safety analysis and will include inspection of security plans. The Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency completed the planned assessment of the safety cases provided by the Requesting Parties in December 2011, publishing all technical assessment reports. A list of all of the issues still to be addressed has been published together with the Requesting Parties' resolutions plans (see the GDA Reports page). These issues still to be addressed before GDA can be considered complete and final design acceptance confirmation can be provided.
This chart shows how we are taking forward the assessment process and gives an indication of how long each step is likely to take.
Before a company can build or operate a nuclear power station, it needs a number of regulatory approvals. These include a Site Licence being granted by the HSE and Environmental Permits from the Environment Agency.
Designs for potential new nuclear power stations - MISC790