Dear Sir or Madam
Assessing new nuclear reactor designs
We are working with the Health and Safety Executive to make sure that any new nuclear power station built in England and Wales will meet high standards of safety, security, environmental protection and waste management.
We’ve implemented a new approach called ‘Generic Design Assessment’ (GDA) which enables us to identify any problems and influence the designs at an early stage, before any major construction begins.
We have now completed our detailed assessments on two new reactor designs: Westinghouse’s AP1000™ and Areva/EDF’s UK EPR™ and our conclusions, pending consultation, are that we could issue a statement of design acceptability (SODA) for each design, although there are a number of potential issues still to be resolved.
Consultation on our assessments of the new nuclear reactor designs
We are now consulting on our findings so far. The consultation began on 28 June and will last sixteen weeks, closing on 18 October.
At the close of the consultation we will carefully consider the comments received before we reach a final decision on the acceptability of each of the two designs. We will publish the key issues raised during our consultation before the end of the year and come to a view about the acceptability of the designs in June next year.
You can comment on our findings
· Online: Visit the Environment Agency consultation on-line at: https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/portal/ho/nuclear/gda
· Call 08708 506 506* and ask for a consultation document
* Approximate call costs: 8p plus 6p per minute (standard landline). Please note charges will vary across telephone providers.
Further information
Please Note: We held a seminar in July attended by about one hundred people from a variety of organisations. A report of the event is now available at the following link http://www.hse.gov.uk/newreactors/events.htm
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment