The UK’s Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has confirmed its acceptance of newcleo’s GDA (Generic Design Assessment) application for its commercial-scale 200 MWe Lead-cooled Fast Reactor technology in Great Britain – the first ever such acceptance for an Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR).
The GDA process was developed by the UK’s principal nuclear regulators, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the Environment Agency (EA), as a means to scrutinise new nuclear power plant designs and assess their acceptability for use in Great Britain. newcleo aims to complete a two-step GDA with the ONR, EA, and Natural Resources Wales (NRW), including a fundamental assessment of their technology by the regulators.
The GDA process will take around two years, with the start date to be agreed with the regulators.
This application acceptance reflects the progress that newcleo Group has made in their UK project as well as the advancement of their research, development, and design activities. This step follows the application to UK authorities for a Regulatory Justification Decision on newcleo’s LFR in April 2024 – the first such application for a new reactor for almost a decade and the first ever for an AMR.
Reactor development in Slovakia
newcleo has signed a joint venture agreement with JAVYS, the Slovak state-owned nuclear and decommissioning Company, to establish a Centre for Development of Spent Nuclear Fuel Utilisation. This step follows the signing of framework co-operation agreements with JAYVS and VUJE in January 2025 and represents a step toward the construction of four advanced modular Generation IV reactors at the Jaslovské Bohunice site in Slovakia.
The newly established JV, in which JAVYS will own 51% and newcleo 49% of the shares, will focus on developing a project to build four LFR-AS-200 reactors with a total output of 800 MWe at the site, to be powered with MOX fuel fabricated from existing Slovakian spent nuclear fuel extracted from the country’s current reactor fleet. The aim is to reprocess the spent fuel in France and assemble new fuel rods at newcleo’s planned French MOX facility which would then be used to power the LFR-AS-200 units creating a closed nuclear fuel cycle for the operation.
