UK govt says all four new nuclear reactor designs fit for development so far

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

LONDON, Mar. 18, 2008 (Thomson Financial) -- The UK government has said that the four new designs being considered for future nuclear reactors in the UK have all passed initial safety tests.

It said that all the designs had passed the first step of the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) and that the companies developing the reactors -- EdF, together with Areva, General Electric-Hitachi, Westinghouse and AECL -- must now respond to the government saying whether they are interested in taking part in further tests.

The government is currently looking at the designs with a view to choosing which it will recommend is adopted for the new suite of reactors planned for the UK in the coming years.

Joe McHugh, head of Radioactive Substances Regulation at the Environment Agency said: 'We demand that any new nuclear power stations meet high standards of safety, security and environment protection. As we begin the detailed assessment step of GDA, the reactor vendors and the regulators have much work to do before we will be able to decide whether these designs can meet those high standards.'

The GDA process is expected to take 3.5 years, the government said.

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