HSE reports on nuclear reactor designs

Date:

27 November 2009

Release No:

E110:09

Interim assessment reports for two nuclear power station designs being considered for construction in the UK have been made public today.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published the reports on Step 3 of its Generic Design Assessment of the designs put forward by EDF/AREVA and Westinghouse.

The GDA process enables the HSE and the Environment Agency (EA) to assess new nuclear power station designs before an application for a site licence has been received.

The reports concerning EDF/AREVA’s EPR design and Westinghouse’s AP1000 reflect progress to date and highlight issues to be resolved during the next phase, a detailed assessment which will conclude in June 2011. 

Following its Step 3 assessment, HSE believes both designs could be suitable for construction on licensed sites in the UK once satisfactory progress is made in a number of technical areas.

Kevin Allars, HSE’s Director of New Build GDA said:

“These are, in effect, mid-point progress reports on our assessment of both designs. 

“Although we have made good progress, initial resource shortages in some technical areas and insufficient information from the design companies in others, has limited the extent of assessment sampling that we have been able to do. 

“There is still a significant amount of detailed assessment work for us to do and we now have the technical specialists we need to carry out our assessment.

“We are now at the stage where we are identifying issues that will either need to be resolved by the design companies, or plans put in place to resolve them. 

“If we are to complete GDA on time, we need the design companies to work with us and provide the high quality and timely information we need.

“With additional resources now in place, and with the full co-operation of the design companies, I am confident that we can complete GDA by the target date of June 2011.”

Now step 3 of GDA is complete, HSE will now move to step 4 which will see the assessment progress from a questioning and information exchange, to one of clarifying issues and resolving them.  

This will be a thorough examination of the evidence from the safety analysis and security plans and will provide a high level indication to whether the proposed design is likely to meet the UK’s regulatory requirements.

The Environment Agency will also hold a formal public consultation on their assessment findings starting in May 2010. Comments and issued received from the public will then be considered and will help inform its decisions about the acceptability of the designs. 

At the end of the GDA process in 2011, the regulators will set out their conclusions about the acceptability of the designs and issue, if appropriate, a design acceptance. 

The Step 3 reports can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/newreactors/reports.htm

Notes to editors

1. HSE, through HM Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) grants site licenses to allow the construction and operation of nuclear power stations, and through its Office for Civil Nuclear Security (OCNS) the regulator for security at all civil nuclear sites.
2. The Environment Agency regulates in England and Wales:
   • 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.

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Background

As part of the Government’s Energy review in 2006, the nuclear regulators set out proposals for the “pre-licensing” of nuclear power station designs. 

Joint regulators, the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency are working together to assess nuclear power station designs.  This is to ensure that any new reactor to be built in the UK will meet the highest standards of safety, security, environmental protection and waste management. 

Conducting an assessment at the design stage allows any issues to be identified and addressed early in the process to enable a resolution to be sought before moving to the construction stage. It is a structured, multi-step process being carried out in an open and transparent manner, which allows the public to view and comment on design information published by the companies on the web.

Publication of the public reports and supporting technical reports are part of the HSE commitment to be open and transparent throughout the GDA process.  The reports can be viewed at  www.hse.gov.uk/newreactors and comments on the reports are invited. 

There were originally four designs subject to the initial assessment:

• EdF/Areva’s EPR;
• Westinghouse’s AP1000.

AECL’s ACR 1000 and General Electric-Hitachi’s ESBWR have since withdrawn from the assessment.

The Nuclear Regulators will be working closely together to make sure there is an effective joint approach to assessment.

At the end of the GDA process – which will have taken 3.5 years from start to finish - the regulators will make statements setting out their conclusions about the acceptability of the designs.  The regulators’ assessments of any subsequent and separate specific site applications will take into account the generic design assessment work they have carried out.