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The reactor intended for use at the Wylfa Newydd nuclear project in North Wales has been approved by regulators following an in-depth assessment.
The UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) developed by Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy was submitted for a Generic Design Assessment (GDA) in 2013. The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales have now completed the process.
Horizon Nuclear Power – a subsidiary of Hitachi – plans to deploy two of the 1.35GW reactors at each of the nuclear plants it is developing at Wylfa Newydd on the Isle of Anglesey and Oldbury in South Gloucestershire.
Before building the plants, Horizon will also need to secure nuclear site licenses from the ONR, environmental permits from the Environment Agency (for Oldbury) or Natural Resources Wales (for Wylfa Newydd) as well as planning permission from the business secretary, Greg Clark.
The company applied for a nuclear site license for Wylfa Newyd in March 2017. The application is currently being assessed by the ONR.
“The completion of the generic design assessment of the UK ABWR is a significant step in our regulation of the overall process to construct this type of reactor in the UK, ensuring that the generic design meets the highest standards of safety that we expect in this country,” said ONR chief nuclear inspector Mark Foy.
“We’re already working on our assessment of Horizon’s site licence application and on the development of the site-specific safety case to progress, in due course, the construction and operation of these reactors at Wylfa Newydd.”
Environment Agency deputy director for radioactive substance and installations regulation Jo Nettleton said: “We’ve concluded that the generic design of the UK ABWR should be capable of meeting the high standards of environment protection and waste management that we require in the UK.
“We only came to this conclusion after carefully reviewing the submissions provided by Hitachi-GE and their responses to the questions and issues we raised. We’ve also carefully considered all the comments we received from people during our public consultation and we’re grateful for all who took part for taking time to respond.”
Natural Resources Wales executive director for North and Mid Wales said: “Following a public consultation on our initial findings, we have concluded that the UK ABWR design is acceptable.
“We will now work on the detailed assessments of the permits, licences and consents that Horizon Nuclear Power will need to have in place to build Wylfa Newydd.”
The approval was welcomed by Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) chief executive Tom Greatrex who said it is “good news for the UK’s new nuclear programme and signals the conclusion of a thorough, rigorous and detailed process by the UK’s independent regulators, widely acknowledged as world class”.
He continued: “With two thirds of UK power stations closing between 2010 and 2030, this is an important step in providing secure, reliable and low carbon nuclear power for the future, to homes, businesses and public services.”
Last week, Horizon’s chief executive Duncan Hawthorne told The Times it could cut off funding for the development of Wylfa Newydd unless the government agrees to provide to financial support for the project by the middle of 2018.
He said Hitachi had already invested £2 billion in the development and was not prepared to keep “throwing a bottomless pit of cash at a project without some certainty it can get to a successful conclusion”.
The comments came the day after energy minister Richard Harrington unveiled a package of measures to support the nuclear sector at the NIA’s annual conference.
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