The Environment Agency, Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), and
Natural Resources Wales (NRW) announced today (Tuesday 30 July)
that they are progressing to the next step of their assessment of
Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd's 470 MWe Small Modular Reactor (SMR)
design.
The process, known as Generic Design Assessment (GDA), is a way
to ensure new nuclear power stations will meet high standards of
safety, security, environmental protection, and waste management.
It also provides the requesting party – in this case Rolls-Royce
SMR Ltd – with the means to reduce overall project risks and gain
increasing levels of regulatory confidence in their design before
site-specific proposals are brought forward.
Step 2 of the GDA began in April 2023 and has now been
successfully completed following significant work by Rolls-Royce
SMR Ltd and the regulators. This has led to the granting, for the
first time since the modernised GDA process was launched, of Step
2 GDA statements. Today also marks the start of Step 3 for the
Rolls-Royce SMR Limited GDA.
Step 2 is the first substantive technical assessment step of GDA,
building upon the work to agree the scope and project
arrangements undertaken during Step 1. The focus of the
assessment was towards the proposed design and how it will be
meet our high standards for safety, security and protecting the
environment.
During the Step 2 process, Rolls-Royce SMR Limited completed all
the requirements from the regulators' guidance.
Saffron Price-Finnerty, the Environment Agency's New
Reactors Programme Manager, said:
We're pleased to announce that following a great deal of hard
work from all parties, we have successfully completed Step 2, the
fundamental assessment of the Rolls-Royce SMR design while
meeting the company's programme timescales.
Our team of specialist assessors have worked diligently to assess
hundreds of submissions and documents provided by Rolls-Royce SMR
Limited and attended numerous technical meetings with the
company.
We have not currently identified any significant issues or
concerns with the design and Rolls-Royce SMR Limited has been
able to demonstrate that environmental protection and radioactive
waste management are key areas of focus for its developing
design.
We're pleased that Rolls-Royce SMR Limited has made significant
progress in considering sustainability when developing its
organisation and design.
We all recognise there is still a significant amount of work to
do and we are now commencing the detailed assessment part of the
process. During Step 3 we'll consult with the public and
stakeholders on our preliminary view of the acceptability of the
design.
Rob Exley, ONR's Head of Generic Design Assessment,
said:
The Rolls-Royce SMR GDA is one of firsts. We are the first
regulators to assess this reactor design, determining whether it
meets our robust safety, security, safeguards and environmental
protection standards in Great Britain. It is also the first time
we have followed the modernised GDA process, looking at an SMR
design.
ONR is satisfied that Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd are progressing and as
regulators, we can now continue into Step 3 assessing in more
detail the evidence that supports the claims made about the
design in the Step 2 submissions.
We will continue to work together with the Environment Agency and
Natural Resources Wales to ensure Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd understands
and meets our regulatory expectations for its proposed reactor
design.
Based on our work during Step 1 and 2, the generic Rolls-Royce
SMR design can proceed to Step 3 of the GDA.
Paul Gibson, Radioactivity & Industry Policy Team
Leader from Natural Resources Wales, said:
Throughout Step 2 we have worked closely with the Environment
Agency and Office for Nuclear Regulation towards the fundamental
assessment of the Rolls-Royce SMR. We will continue working with
partner regulators as the project now progresses to more detailed
scrutiny of the design in Step 3.
Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd's comments
process continues through Step 3. It enables anyone to submit
comments and questions about the reactor design to the company
for its response. Relevant issues raised during the comments
process, and Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd's responses to these issues,
will continue to be used to help inform the regulators'
assessments throughout the rest of the GDA process.
The GDA
process focuses on the design of a generic nuclear power
station and is not site-specific.
The process is systematic and contains a number of steps, with
the assessment getting increasingly detailed as the process
develops.
A Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC) or Statement of Design
Acceptability (SoDA), from ONR and the environmental regulators
respectively, will only be issued at the end of Step 3 of the GDA
if the design meets the high safety, security, safeguards,
environmental protection and waste management standards expected
by our regulatory frameworks.
These regulatory judgements do not guarantee the granting of a
site licence or subsequent permissions issued under the
conditions of a site licence or environmental permits for the
construction of a power station based on the Rolls-Royce SMR
design at a particular site in Great Britain.
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