The Environment Agency, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) have announced that Rolls-Royce’s 470MWe Small Modular Reactor (SMR) design has been cleared to progress to the next step of regulatory assessment.
The Rolls-Royce SMR design will now pass to stage three of the Generic Design Assessment (GDA), having begun stage two in April 2023. The GDA is a multi-stage process which ensures new nuclear power stations meet high standards of safety, security, environmental protection and waste management.
Stage three of the GDA process has now begun for the SMR design. This stage consists of a more detailed assessment than the previous stages. Anyone can submit comments and questions on the reactor design, and the regulatory bodies involved will consider these throughout the GDA process.
While a timeline for the completion of Rolls-Royce SMR’s GDA process has not been formally revealed, the GDA process normally takes around four years, according to the Environment Agency. As Rolls-Royce SMR’s GDA application formally began on 3 April 2022, final completion of the GDA process could occur as soon as 2026.
Helena Perry, Rolls-Royce SMR’s safety and regulatory affairs director, said: “The completion of Step 2 of the GDA is the most important milestone to date in advancing deployment of Rolls-Royce SMRs in the UK.
“We have built fantastic momentum, and the team will move directly into Step 3 of this rigorous independent assessment of our technology—ideally positioning us to deliver low-carbon nuclear power and support the UK transition to net zero.”
Saffron Price-Finnerty, the Environment Agency’s new reactors programme manager, praised everyone involved for their “great deal of hard work”, but noted that the process is far from over. She commented: “We all recognise there is still a significant amount of work to do and we are now commencing the detailed assessment part of the process. During Step 3 we’ll consult with the public and stakeholders on our preliminary view of the acceptability of the design.”
Rob Exley, ONR’s head of generic design assessment, said the body was “satisfied” with Rolls-Royce’s SMR design progress and remarked upon the ground-breaking nature of these events. “The Rolls-Royce SMR GDA is one of firsts. We are the first regulators to assess this reactor design, determining whether it meets our robust safety, security, safeguards and environmental protection standards in Great Britain. It is also the first time we have followed the modernised GDA process, looking at an SMR design.”
