Hitachi Reactor Makes it To Final U.K. Testing Phase

Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Two nuclear power projects in the U.K. took a big step closer to fruition after the proposed reactor from Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Limited (Hitachi-GE), entered the final phase of testing.

The country's Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) has cleared the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (UK ABWR), to move forward to the final step of Generic Design Assessment (GDA), which should be completed by the end of 2017. If successful, it will be used at two sites: Wylfa Newydd on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales and Oldbury-on-Severn in South Gloucestershire, England. The Wylfa project has a planned generation capacity of 2,600 megawatts (MW), while the bigger Oldbury II project has a proposed capacity of 3,900 MW. The combined investment value of both projects is in excess of $40 billion.

Jane Bowie, ONR's head of GDA, said: "We are now ready to start the fourth and final step of the assessment process. Throughout step 3, interactions with Hitachi-GE have been positive; they are responsive and open to constructive challenge and engagement. There is still a lot of work to be undertaken by Hitachi-GE, and they will have to maintain high quality, on-time delivery to achieve their target DAC date of December 2017."

Ken Sato, general manager, licensing, Hitachi Europe Ltd. for Hitachi-GE, added: "Progression to Step 4 in around two and a half years is a sign of the strong progress we have made. Hitachi-GE now has a team of well in excess of 300 experts working on GDA. The ABWR is the only generation III+ reactor which has entered operation anywhere in the world, and has been delivered on-time and on-budget."

Both the Wylfa and the Oldbury projects will be developed by the Horizon Nuclear Power joint venture, which Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy bought for $1.1 billion in 2012. For additional information, see October 31, 2012 article - RWE and E.ON Sell U.K. Nuclear Venture.

Two weeks ago, Electricite de France (EPA:EDF) (Paris) and its minority Chinese partner, China General Nuclear Power Company (CGN), confirmed a final investment decision to build the $28 billion, 3,300-MW Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant in the U.K. It will be the first new nuclear plant in the country in more than 25 years and will use two European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs). For additional information, see October 23, 2015 article - EDF to Build Hinkley Nuclear Plant in U.K..

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