GE Hitachi To Resubmit Nuclear Reactor Design To UK

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, a US-Japanese joint venture, is expected to resubmit its nuclear reactor design to the UK in 2011, The Wall Street Journal reported citing a Dow Jones report.

To concentrate on getting its Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor design licensed in the US, the company had withdrawn its design from the UK last year. However, it will resubmit the reactor design to the UK after it completes the regulatory process in the US.
GE Hitachi has already initiated talks with the UK government and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to return to the UK process. Once the reactor design clears the regulatory process in the UK, the company expects its design to be licensed in the country by 2014, which will allow the company to have its first nuclear reactor in operation by 2020.
However, after returning to the UK, the reactor design is expected to go through the final two steps in parallel as the site already has been chosen.
Danny Roderick, senior vice president of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, told Dow Jones: "In this case, we've resolved the technical issues, and we have the design strategy to satisfy the (UK) regulator with the level of detail they need to be able to get closure to some of the issues that are delaying some of the reviews of the two designs they are reviewing."

Source: Energy Business Review