The Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency (the Regulators) are undertaking a process of Generic Design Assessment (GDA) of new nuclear reactor designs.
GDA, also known as pre-licensing, allows the generic safety, security and environmental aspects of new nuclear reactor designs to be assessed before an applications are made for licences and permits to build particular designs of reactor on a particular sites.
GDA only needs to be undertaken once for each design. As such, it is envisaged that it should speed up the subsequent site-licensing and consents process, together with providing more certainty to investors at an earlier stage.
The GDA process remains an essential step on the critical path for delivering safe and secure nuclear new build in the UK.
Two new nuclear reactor designs are currently being assessed as part of the GDA process:
- the UK EPR developed by AREVA and Electricité de France (EDF)
- the AP1000 developed by Westinghouse Electric Company (WEC).
The Office for Nuclear Development (OND) is working to ensure that the nuclear regulators continue to have the resources and tools necessary for GDA.
Progress so far
On 14 December 2011 the Regulators granted interim Design Acceptance Confirmations (iDACs) and interim Statements of Design Acceptability (iSoDAs) for the UK EPR and the AP1000 reactor designs. The Regulators also confirmed that they are satisfied with how EDF and WEC plan to resolve the GDA issues indentified during the process.
Regular updates on the progress of GDA, including quarterly reports, regulatory issues and guidance are published on the Office for Nuclear Regulation: New nuclear power stations web pages.
High-level review
The Office for Nuclear Development host a series of high-level review meetings for all parties currently involved in the GDA process. You can read the minutes: