Plant Vogtle Unit 4 Becomes Reference Plant to Streamline Licensing and Accelerate Delivery
Cranberry Township, PA, April 6, 2026 – Westinghouse Electric Company has submitted Revision 20 of the AP1000® Design Control Document (DCD) to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which establishes Plant Vogtle Unit 4 as the standard AP1000 reference plant for U.S. deployment. The submittal is part of Westinghouse’s strategic plan to enable a fleet-scale deployment of the advanced AP1000 modular reactor and support President Trump’s vision to build a U.S. fleet of large nuclear reactors.
Revision 20 aligns the AP1000 DCD with the AP1000 units in commercial operation and setting industry performance records at Plant Vogtle, near Waynesboro, Georgia. DCDs define the technical details of a standard reactor design to ensure it meets all regulatory and safety requirements and serve as the primary reference for licensing new units. Revision 20 formally implements the as-built Vogtle Unit 4 as the standard reference unit for all new AP1000 projects, accelerating new AP1000 combined license (COL) applications and enabling a rapid fleet deployment of AP1000 plants.
“The AP1000 stands alone as the only fully designed, licensed and operating advanced modular reactor that is ready for construction right now. Establishing Vogtle Unit 4 as the standard as-built reference plant for all new AP1000 projects will enable Westinghouse and its partners to rapidly deliver multiple industry-leading AP1000 units simultaneously with more predictability,” said Dan Sumner, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Westinghouse. “For our customers, the ability to deploy a standard plant based on an as-built and operating unit without the technology risk associated with a first of a kind, never built design is a game changer for unlocking fleet-scale deployment.”
The advanced AP1000 reactor is the only operating Generation III+ reactor with fully passive safety systems, modular construction design and the smallest footprint per MWe on the market. There are six AP1000 reactors currently setting operational performance and availability records worldwide with 14 additional reactors under construction and five more under contract. The AP1000 technology has been selected for nuclear energy programs in Poland, Ukraine and Bulgaria, and is also under consideration at multiple other sites in Europe, the Middle East and North America.
