As Westinghouse celebrated pending approval of the AP1000 in the U.S. last week, both the Toshiba subsidiary and Areva also marked tentative approval in the UK for their latest reactor designs.
The British Office for Nuclear Regulation and the Environment Agency issued approvals for the AP1000 and the Areva EPR designs, conditioned upon the resolution of a handful of remaining design issues.
“The assessment has been a challenging process involving more than 60 expert engineers, scientists and regulators but one that has enabled us to identify issues early on. It means we are far better placed to ensure that any new reactors that are built in the UK meet high standards of safety, security and environmental protection,” Joe McHugh, the Environment Agency head of nuclear regulation, said in a release.
Both approvals are critical to future civilian nuclear development in the UK. Areva's 1600-megawatt net EPR design was selected for two additional units at the Hinkley Point nuclear plant. Westinghouse has pitched the AP1000 for new UK nuclear build under consideration by E.ON-RWE partnership Horizon.
"This announcement marks a tremendous milestone on the road towards seeing AP1000 reactors built in the UK," Westinghouse Vice President Mike Tynan said in a release. "These interim approvals demonstrate clearly that the regulators believe the design will meet UK safety and environmental requirements and, although there remain a number of pieces of work to complete, the remaining activity does not pose a substantial risk to final approvals being granted.”