The Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process was developed by the UK’s health and safety and environment regulators (ONR and EA) to allow pre-licensing assessment of reactor designs. This means that the safety and environmental aspects of a reactor design can be assessed generically, before any site-specific application is made.
Key milestones:
- 2007: Applications for GDA submitted for four designs — UK EPR (Areva/EDF), AP1000 (Westinghouse), ESBWR (GE-Hitachi), and ACR-1000 (AECL).
- 2008: AECL withdrew the ACR-1000; GE-Hitachi paused the ESBWR assessment.
- 2012: Full Design Acceptance Confirmations (DAC) issued for the UK EPR and AP1000.
- 2013: Hitachi-GE applied for GDA for the Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR), completing the process in 2017.
- 2019: Hitachi suspended work on the Wylfa ABWR project owing to rising costs and inability to agree funding.
- 2021: China’s CGN withdrew from the Bradwell B site in Essex.