[cdn-nucl-l] WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC COMPANY SUBMITS APPLICATION for AP1000

["Adam McLean" <adam.mclean@utoronto.ca>]

Posted on NRC.gov on April 2, 2002 at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/archive/02-038.html
A 60-year operating life is a long time...

Adam

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NRC NEWS
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 
Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 
Washington, DC 20555-001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov 
www.nrc.gov 
 
No. 02-038 April 2, 2002 

WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC COMPANY SUBMITS APPLICATION
FOR DESIGN CERTIFICATION OF ITS AP1000 NUCLEAR REACTOR

 
The Westinghouse Electric Company has submitted an application for
design certification of its AP1000 standard plant design. 
The AP1000 design is for a nuclear power plant capable of producing
about 1,100 megawatts of electricity. The plant features enhanced safety
systems that rely on gravity and pressure differentials to safely shut
down the reactor or mitigate the effects of an accident. It is designed
for a 60-year operating life.

With the certification, if granted, a utility that wished to build and
operate a new nuclear power plant could choose to use the design and
reference it in a license application. Safety issues within the scope of
the certified design are not subject to litigation with respect to that
individual license application, although site-specific environmental
impacts associated with building and operating the plant at a particular
location could be. NRC has certified three other standard reactor
designs.

In submitting its application for design certification, Westinghouse
referenced the AP600 standard design, which was certified by NRC in
1999. It made changes necessitated by the requirements of the larger
size of the AP1000. Additional details will be available in a notice to
be published shortly in the Federal Register.

NRC staff will perform an acceptance review to determine whether the
application contains sufficient information to be processed. If it is
found acceptable, NRC will publish a notice in the Federal Register
announcing its acceptance and docketing of the application. The staff
will review the application, request any additional information
necessary, then issue a draft Safety Evaluation Report to address any
safety questions. It could then issue a final Safety Evaluation Report
if all technical and safety questions have been resolved. This design
can then be certified through NRC's rulemaking process, which includes
an opportunity for public participation. The certification process is
described in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 52,
Subpart B.