Engineering consultancies Frazer-Nash and Praxis have been awarded a contract to provide advice to HSE in its independent review of certain safety aspects of designs for the UK’s new generation of nuclear reactors.
The Health & Safety Executive (HSE), working with the Environment Agency, is currently assessing two different reactor types – the UK-EPR designed by Areva and EDF, and the AP1000 designed by Westinghouse – for their suitability to meet UK regulatory standards, as part of its Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process.
The HSE has commissioned prime contractor Frazer-Nash and technical lead Praxis to provide technical support to produce independent advice on certain areas within the HSE’s assessment. The review will focus on control and instrumentation aspects of the reactor designs, including the reactor protection systems.
The findings of the work will support the HSE’s overall assessment of the designs, and help them determine the extent to which they can meet the UK’s stringent Safety Assessment Principles. This will ultimately feed into the regulator’s decision-making process helping HSE to produce its report on the extent to which the reactor designs meet the UK licensing requirements.
Paul Deeran, Nuclear Business Manager at Frazer-Nash, commented: “Our support to the HSE as part of the GDA is critical in providing a third-party viewpoint on critical safety aspects of the two designs. We have many years of experience in providing similar technical work and are pleased to be involved so closely with the HSE’s assessment of the next generation of nuclear reactors in the UK.”
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