Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power revealed yesterday that it had been granted a Standard Design Approval by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding the Korean-designed nuclear facility APR1400. (image: Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power)
SEOUL, Oct. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — A U.S. government agency that provides guidelines on nuclear safety has found that the design of the Korean nuclear facility APR1400 was “safe.”
The announcement is expected to boost competitiveness for Korean nuclear facilities in terms of exports to the U.S.
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power revealed yesterday that it had been granted a Standard Design Approval by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding the Korean-designed nuclear facility APR1400.
The NRC is expected to issue the certification in May of next year, which is needed in order to build nuclear facilities in the U.S.
With the certification in place, newly built nuclear plants are exempted from safety evaluations in terms of facility design in the U.S.
This gives plant operators a comparative advantage as the duration and fees associated with obtaining the construction and operating licenses decrease.
The design approval by the NRC is valid for 15 years and can be extended for a maximum of another 15 years. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power applied for the certification of its APR1400 facility design in December 2014.
APR1400 is an advanced pressurized water nuclear reactor with a capacity of 1,400 megawatts designed with local technology, a reactor that has been exported to the UAE and is currently being pitched to Saudi Arabia, the U.K., the Czech Republic, and Poland.
The NRC started its evaluation of the APR1400 in March of 2015 before concluding it in September of this year after 42 months of deliberation.
Most of the companies that have been certified by the NRC are American, such as General Electric, Westinghouse and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy.
H. S. Seo (hsseo@koreabizwire.com)
