Benefits Outweigh the Detriment to Health which it may cause

Update from the Office for Nuclear Development on the UK ABWR Justification decision 

The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, Edward Davey, has published his decision that he should Justify the UK ABWR nuclear reactor design which Hitachi and Horizon propose to build in the UK. This means that as Justifying Authority he has decided that the benefits of the UK ABWR outweigh the detriments to health which it may cause.

The decision is subject to approval by both Houses of Parliament and a draft statutory instrument has been laid before Parliament. The decision has taken into account responses to public consultations on the Application and on the Proposed Decision.

The relevant documents can be seen on the DECC website here and the Secretary of State’s Statement to Parliament is here.

Office for Nuclear Development  


That's great. Only Edward Davey doesn't live here does he.......

Move to Step 3 for Assesment of Proposed Reactor

Office for Nuclear Development update – Generic Design Assessment (GDA) of Hitachi-GE’s UK ABWR

 For information, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and the Environment Agency (EA) working with Natural Resources Wales (NRW) have completed an initial high level assessment of Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy’s UK-Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (UK ABWR) design and have moved to Step 3 of the assessment process.

Full details on the GDA of new reactors is available on the joint regulators website.

 You can also make a comment about the UK ABWR design via Hitachi-GE’s website. Hitachi-GE will respond to the comments and issues raised.

Post from the Office for Nuclear Development

Please see below numerous updates from the Office for Nuclear Development, DECC:

1.      Today the UK Government has published a renewed process for siting a Geological Disposal Facility.

Implementing Geological Disposal outlines an approach based on working with interested communities, beginning with two years of actions overseen by Government and intended to address issues that the public and stakeholders have told us are important to them.

The UK Government remains committed to geological disposal as the right policy for the long-term, safe and secure management of higher activity radioactive waste.

Along with this we have also published the Implementing Geological Disposal: Annual Report for April 2013 – March 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implementing-geological-disposal-annual-report-april-2013-march-2014

2.      The Office for Nuclear Development has today published a consultation seeking views on the Secretary of State’s proposed decision to Justify the UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (UK ABWR) designed by Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd.  The consultation has two volumes,  Volume 1 summarises the purpose of the consultation and provides guidance on how to respond. Volume 2 sets out the background to Regulatory Justification and the evidence the Secretary of State has taken into account in coming to his proposed decision.

The consultation can be found on the DECC website at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-the-secretary-of-states-proposed-decision-as-justifying-authority-on-the-regulatory-justification-of-the-uk-advanced-boiling-water-re

3.      Today the Scottish Government, on behalf of DECC and the Devolved Administrations for Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, is publishing the first UK strategy for Low Level Radioactive Waste from Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials. The strategy can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/strategy-for-the-management-of-naturally-occurring-radioactive-material-norm-waste-in-the-united-kingdom

Kind regards,

The Office for Nuclear Development

Hinkley Point C - State Aid Consultation

Hinkley Point C State Aid Consultation

In October 2013, Government submitted the State aid notification for the Hinkley Point C investment contract to the European Commission following the announcement of the commercial agreement on key terms with EDF. The Commission made an Opening Decision on the case on 18 December 2013.

Today the Commission has begun a consultation on the Opening Decision following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), this will last for four weeks until Monday 7 April 2014 and provides an opportunity for third parties to contribute to the debate.

An investigation by the European Commission is a standard part of the State aid process for cases like Hinkley and we are confident that our case is consistent with State aid rules.

A significant amount of low carbon electricity is needed by 2030 to meet our legally binding carbon targets while maintaining security of supply and keeping consumer bills down. New Nuclear, alongside renewables and Carbon Capture and Storage equipped generation, will play an important and critical role in addressing this challenge.

In the case of Hinkley Point C, it would generate enough home-grown power for nearly six million homes, a city nearly twice the size of London, or 7% of Britain’s electricity supply by 2025. In addition it is estimated that around 25,000 jobs will be created during construction with a massive investment by EDF and its fellow investors of around £16 billion to build the plant.

You can read and respond to the European Commission’s Opening Decision here: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2014:069:0060:0098:EN:PDF

Kind regards

The Office for Nuclear Development

Another Consultation - Storage of Overseas Origin Oxide Fuels

This consultation sets out proposals which would allow the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to manage, by means of interim storage and disposal, any small quantities of overseas origin oxide fuels that cannot be reprocessed or are not economic to reprocess in the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) at Sellafield before it closes in 2018.

This approach would permit the NDA to close out the remaining overseas contracts in a cost-effective and timely way, providing more certainty over the future plans for THORP and for the future decommissioning of the Dounreay licensed site.

The consultation can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/management-of-overseas-origin-nuclear-fuels-held-in-the-uk

Kind regards,

The Office for Nuclear Development