Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has been awarded a certificate of compliance to the European Utility Requirements (EUR) for its EU-APWR, a 1700MWe advanced pressurized water reactor.
The EUR is a set of approximately 5000 requirements, compiled by 16 European nuclear-reliant power providers based on their collective experience and country-specific regulatory demands.
The EU-APWR is the first reactor of Japanese design to have successfully demonstrated compliance to the EUR, says MHI. Receipt of the certificate ‘sets a solid foundation’ for the company’s entry into the European market for large-size reactors, it added.
The certification milestone follows a two year process, which began in October 2012 and included assessment of 70 basic design documents and approximately 200 supplementary explanatory documents.
In conclusion, the panel evaluated that with regards to safety, operating performance and other key criteria, the EU-APWR is ‘highly acceptable’ to the European market, according to MHI
The EU-APWR design is conceptually based on MHI’s 1538 MWe four loop plant design slated for construction in Japan, with modifications to comply with European regulations and customer requirements, and engineered for greater scale and larger generating capacity.
MHI claims that the EU-APWR design achieves the world’s highest level of thermal efficiency, as well as significant improvements in operating economy and safety, thanks to its new automated safety systems and innovative design enhancements.
Photo: Cutaway of the EU-APWR
