Rolls-Royce Small Modular Reactor design completes second step of regulatory assessment
30 July 2024
Rolls-Royce SMR has successfully completed Step 2 of the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) by the UK nuclear industry’s independent regulators – the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales – and will move immediately into the third and final Step.
Image: Rolls-Royce SMR
The GDA process assesses new nuclear power plant designs for deployment in the UK, demonstrating they can be built, operated and decommissioned in accordance with the highest standards of safety, security, safeguards and environmental protection.
The Rolls-Royce SMR GDA began in April 2022 with a year-long initiation step, followed by Step 2, a 16-month assessment looking at the fundamentals of the design. Step 2 has now been successfully completed following significant work by Rolls-Royce SMR Ltd and the regulators, leading to the granting, for the first time since the modernised GDA process was launched, of Step 2 GDA statements.
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 fundamental adequacy of the design and safety, security, safeguards and environment cases, and the suitability of the methodologies, approaches, codes, standards and philosophies which form the building blocks for the generic design.
During the Step 2 process, Rolls-Royce SMR has completed all the requirements from the regulators' guidance. The completion of Step 2 also marks the start of Step 3 for the Rolls-Royce SMR GDA.
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 working 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.”
Helena Perry, Rolls-Royce SMR’s Safety and Regulatory Affairs Director, said: “The completion of Step 2 of the GDA is the most important milestone to date in advancing deployment of Rolls-Royce SMRs in the UK.
“We have built fantastic momentum, and the team will move directly into Step 3 of this rigorous independent assessment of our technology – ideally positioning us to deliver low- carbon nuclear power and support the UK transition to net zero.”
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