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Nuclear oss foresees no ‘show-stoppers’
Mike Tynan
The head of Lancashire’s biggest nuclear operator has said it remains on course to secure a licence for its reactor design in next year.
Mike Tynan, chief executive of Westinghouse UK, said that the latest update into the licensing process for its AP1000 reactor threw up “no show-stopper” problems.
Both the AP1000 and its rival, the French-built EPR reactor, are expected to have secured a licence to build in the UK by June 2011.
Westinghouse recently moved its UK head office from Preston docks to Matrix Park at Buckshaw Village, near Chorley, and is committed to producing fuel for any new reactors at its Springfields factory in Salwick, near Preston.
Mr Tynan said: “The latest Generic Design Assessment (GDA) report says that both ourselves and the EPR continue to deliver on licensing.
“There is still a lot of work to be done, no question, but there has also been quite significant progress by Westinghouse.”
The previous quarter’s GDA update was critical of Westinghouse, but the latest report released yesterday said it had taken “robust steps” to address these issues adding that its UK base had made the energy group more “effective” in its talks with licensing officials.
But, it does also criticse both the AP1000 and EPR bids for “long delays” in getting technical information which it warns could lead to the process not being completed by next year.
Mr Tynan said that the successful completion of the GDA would be “a key risk” removed for power companies looking to build new reactors in the UK.
Westinghouse is in advanced talks with Horizon Nuclear Power, a joint venture of energy giants E.ON and RWE-npower, which has bought land next to the soon-to-be-decommissioned nuclear sites at Oldbury, Gloucestershire and Wylfa, North Wales, and the GDF-Suez-Iberdrola group, which has land at Sellafield in Cumbria.
A decision is expected to be made by Horizon on whether it selects the AP1000 or the EPR reactor later this year, with the Sellafield owners due to decide by early 2012.
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Wednesday 08 February 2012
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