Regulators publish guidance on new nuclear power station designs

E002:07 11 January 2007

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) with the other principal nuclear regulators today published new guidance on the arrangements that have been developed to assess generic designs for any new nuclear power stations that may potentially be built in the UK. The coordinated guidance can be found at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/nuclear/reactors/index.htm

The guidance provides advice on the processes needed to be followed and information that will be required by the regulators - HSE, the Environment Agency (EA), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) - during the generic design assessment process.

The publication of the guidance is in response to the Government's report, "The Energy Challenge" published early this year as part of its Energy Review in which the regulators were asked to take forward this work.

The new process will ensure that generic reactor design assessments are not only rigorous and robust but also conducted in an open and transparent manner involving stakeholders, and the public.

At the end of the generic assessment, HSE will provide a view on the acceptability of a new nuclear power station design. If an application is made to build this design of reactor at a specific site, HSE will follow its existing licensing process but, in addition, would take full account of the generic assessment work that has been carried out. This again would be done in close partnership with other regulators.

Notes to editors

1. HSE grants site licences to allow the operation of nuclear power stations. Before granting a licence, HSE looks at three areas: the proposed reactor design, the site location and the licensee's organisation. All licences have conditions attached which require safety cases and the licensee to obtain HSE's permission before constructing a reactor.

2. The EA (England and Wales) and SEPA (Scotland) regulate:

• Radioactive waste disposals, including discharges;
• Abstraction from, and discharges to, controlled waters, including rivers, estuaries, the sea and groundwaters;
• Operation of specific "conventional" plant;
• Assessment and where necessary, clean-up of contaminated land;
• Disposal of conventional waste; and
• Certain flood risk management matters (Environment Agency only, not SEPA).

3. OCNS is the regulator for security at all civil nuclear sites. It is concerned with physical security of nuclear material, IT security, security of nuclear material in transit, and the vetting of people who access nuclear sites. OCNS require the holder of the nuclear site licence to submit a site security plan to be approved before nuclear material arrives on site.

4. The HSE and the EA submitted expert reports, as a contribution to the Government's Energy Review, and these considered the potential role for pre-licensing and pre-authorisation assessments of candidate reactor designs; both processes can be described as "generic design assessment". In July 2006, the Government asked HSE and the Environment Agency to take forward these proposals. As a result, HSE's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII), the EA, OCNS and SEPA have prepared guidance on generic design assessment of nuclear power stations.

5. In "the Energy Challenge" the Government expressed the view that nuclear has a role to play in the future UK generating mix. The Government has consulted on this view, and expects to finalise its position on this in the Energy White Paper this spring. This guidance sets out how the formal process for generic designs would operate, in the event that Government confirms its view that nuclear has a role to play.

6. The guidance material being published on 11 January comprises:

• Guidance on the overall assessment process issued by the nuclear regulators jointly, Guide to regulatory Processes for Generic Design Assessment of New Nuclear Power Stations.
• Guidance from HSE on how it will assess the safety of new nuclear power station design, Nuclear Power Station Generic Design Assessment - Guidance to Requesting Parties.
• Guidance from the Environment Agency setting out how they will assess environmental issues, Process and Information Document for Generic Assessment of Candidate Nuclear Power Plants.

7. Guidance from OCNS on how security issues will be covered during design assessment.

• This guidance is aimed primarily towards those companies that may wish to design and construct new nuclear power stations in the UK. They are working documents and may well be revised in due course in the light of experience.

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