Ability of AP1000 to Meet UK Licensing Requirements - abs119

The Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plant has been developed to meet the United States Advanced Light Water (ALWR) Program Utility Requirements (URD) and to be licensable in the U.S. The AP1000 is an uprated version of the AP600; the U.S. NRC granted Design Certification for AP600 in December of 1999. Westinghouse has now submitted to U.S. NRC its application for AP1000 Design Certification. Plans are being developed to get the AP1000 design approved for use in the UK. Part of this planning has been to examine the AP1000 design relative to anticipated UK safety and licensing issues. This paper provides an overview of this examination. The AP1000 is in a strong position with respect to UK licensing because of its robust design employing passive safety features that are already underpinned by testing, a safety case and PSA. Further confidence is also gained because the AP1000 design is undergoing design certification review in the US, with its sister design, the AP600, already having achieved design certification. (authors)