Office for Nuclear Regulation sanctions new nuclear reactor design

The Office for Nuclear Regulation has taken a major step toward building a nuclear power station in Wales by approving Hitachi’s reactor design for Horizon Nuclear Power’s plant at Wylfa. For the record, the design of advanced boiling water reactors has been under inspection since 2012.

Reports cite that Horizon Nuclear Power is looking forward to building another nuclear power plant at Oldbury in Gloucestershire after the successful deployment of the new power station at Wylfa, where it will install the recently approved advanced boiling water reactor design of Hitachi. The chief executive of Horizon Nuclear Power, Duncan Hawthorne stated that this was one of the biggest milestones that has been achieved in recent times, and would provide them a major opportunity to move forward toward building more nuclear power plants in UK.

As per reliable sources, Hitachi has been looking for sufficient financial support, which in the event it fails to obtain by the middle of 2018, it would stop funding plants, as it has already invested GBP 2 billion on this current project.

The chief nuclear inspector of the Office for Nuclear Regulation, Mark Foy has further added that the approval for the generic design of advanced boiling water reactors was one of the important steps undertaken by the Nuclear Regulation to construct those types of reactors across UK. He also added that the new reactor design has fulfilled the country’s all safety standards.

The initiatives taken by the UK government are likely to curb carbon emissions with the development of clean and reliable power from several nuclear power plants including Oldbury and Wylfa. Apart from the Welsh plant of capacity 2.7 GW, another UK based energy company, EDF has also been constructing a nuclear power station of 3.2 GW capacity at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

Reportedly, the decreasing energy cost of offshore wind power has generated fierce competition in the energy sector, prompting governments to build new nuclear power stations across UK over the years ahead.