NRC STAFF ISSUES DRAFT SAFETY EVALUATION FOR
WESTINGHOUSE AP1000 ADVANCED REACTOR DESIGN
Printable Version

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has issued a draft safety evaluation report for the Westinghouse AP1000 advanced reactor design. Westinghouse Electric Company submitted the AP1000 design certification application in March 2002.

NRC reviewers expect to finalize the safety evaluation by September 2004, and reach a decision on the design by October 2004. If the AP1000 receives final design approval, the NRC expects to complete a rulemaking process by December 2005, deciding whether to certify the design in NRC's licensing regulations. This certification process includes an opportunity for public comment and for an informal public hearing before a decision is made on whether to issue a final regulation.

If a reactor design has NRC final design approval, it can be referenced in an application for a nuclear power plant license; such a design could still be subject to litigation in a licensing proceeding. Once a design is certified in a rule, however, it is not subject to litigation in a licensing proceeding unless it is shown that the rule, or some aspect of the rule, would not serve the purposes for which it was adopted.

The draft safety evaluation report contains the agency's technical evaluation for the AP1000 application. It includes a listing of issues that remain to be resolved. The draft will be used during NRC's continuing discussions with Westinghouse, as well as in the design assessment by the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards.

Westinghouse has 14 days to review the report for proprietary information; the report will then be available electronically through the NRC’s Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html, by entering accession number ML031640595. Help in using ADAMS is available from the NRC’s Public Document Room at 800/397-4209 or 301/415-4737.

Further information on the AP1000 review can be found on the NRC’s web site at this address: http//www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/design-cert/ap1000.html.

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Monday, December 08, 2008