GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy's Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) design has been certified by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for use in the United States.
"The commission's action acknowledges the finding by NRC staff that the ESBWR design meets all safety and regulatory requirements," GEH said.
The ESBWR is a 4500 MWt (1594 MWe) reactor, which uses natural circulation for normal operation and has passive safety features. These attributes result in the ability of the reactor to cool itself for more than seven days without operator intervention or AC power on or off site, GEH says.
Two licence applications referencing ESBWR technology are currently pending with the NRC. DTE Energy's application referencing ESBWR technology for Fermi 3 in Michigan was submitted in 2008, with a licence is expected in 2015, according to GEH. In 2013, Dominion also selected the ESBWR technology for its North Anna 3 Nuclear Power plant project in Virgina, and an NRC licence is anticipated in 2016.
If an applicant for a nuclear power plant licence references a certified design, they need not submit safety information for the design. Instead, the licence application and the NRC's safety review would address the remaining site-specific safety issues for the proposed nuclear power plant, NRC says.
In addition to the US projects, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. has selected a site in the Kovvada region in the state of Andhra Pradesh for the eventual construction of multiple ESBWRs. Key global commercial projects include Finland, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Vietnam and others, GEH says.
The final ESBWR design certification rule is expected to be published in the Federal Register by the end of September, and will go into effect 30 days after publication.
Photo: The ESBWR reactor design
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