Manchester, U.K., March 30, 2017 – Westinghouse Electric Company announced today that its AP1000® nuclear power plant design has successfully completed review by regulators in the United Kingdom, who concluded their Generic Design Assessment (GDA) by issuing Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC) and Statement of Design Acceptability (SoDA) for the Westinghouse technology. The DAC and SoDA were issued by the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the Environment Agency (EA), respectively.
“The successful completion of this rigorous review by the ONR and the EA has been many years in the making, and it represents a major milestone toward bringing a new generation of safe, clean energy to the United Kingdom through the Moorside Project,” said José Emeterio Gutiérrez, interim president and chief executive officer. “In addition, it expands the global regulatory pedigree of the AP1000 plant design and further confirms Westinghouse’s innovative safety technology.”
The Moorside Project, developed by NuGeneration Ltd., is planned to consist of three AP1000 units at West Cumbria in North West England. The project is designed to help secure the U.K.’s future energy supply by delivering affordable, low-carbon electricity as part of a balanced energy mix.
Westinghouse initiated the GDA process, which applies to England and Wales, in 2007. After receiving Interim Design Acceptance Confirmation (iDAC) and Interim Statement of Design Acceptability (iSoDA) in December 2011, the company paused the review process pending selection of the AP1000 plant technology for a project in the U.K. The GDA resumed in 2014 after NuGen announced plans to build three AP1000 units at the Moorside site. Since then, Westinghouse has provided detailed technical information to address and resolve regulators’ questions.
The three units planned at Moorside would benefit from Westinghouse’s experience on the world’s first eight AP1000 units, which are currently being delivered at four sites in the United States and China. Two units each are in the final stages of completion at the Sanmen and Haiyang sites in China, with an additional two units each under construction at the V.C. Summer and Vogtle sites in the U.S.