Areva has applied to UK regulators for its EPR nuclear reactor design to be considered for the forthcoming Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process.
The application is being supported by British Energy, EDF, E.ON UK, Iberdrola, RWE npower and SUEZ as a potential design for new build nuclear in the UK.
Should the application be accepted, it is intended that the three year GDA project will be jointly managed with EDF. In parallel with the GDA project, Areva will manage an Alliance of all the utilities that support the EPR design and are considering EPR for new build in the UK. The Alliance objective is to support these utilities to achieve EPR "intelligent licensee” status, in preparation for subsequent site license application.
Luc Oursel, president of Areva NP said: "Our strategy is to license EPR as quickly as possible and make it available to all clients wishing to support UK's need for low carbon generation capacity within a competitive market."
GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) also submitted its ESBWR reactor design to regulators seeking “design acceptance confirmation” from the Health and Safety Executive, the Environment Agencies and the Office for Civil Nuclear Security. The ESBWR design is also supported by utilities and developers including Iberdrola, which recently acquired Scottish Power, RWE npower and British Energy.
The business has begun adding staff to its UK nuclear project development team.
The designs join those of AECL and Westinghouse for their ACR1000 and AP1000 respectively which have already submitted applications for the GDA process. The entire GDA review is expected to take three-and-a-half years.
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