NRC Grants Design Certification to AP1000

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted the Design Certification Amendment to the Westinghouse AP1000 pressurized water reactor design.

Utilities in Georgia and South Carolina have been waiting for the certification so that each can move ahead with its combined construction and operating license applications. Southern Power will proceed with applications for Plant Vogtle outside of Waynesboro, Georgia. South Carolina Electric & Gas Company and South Carolina Public Service Authority will do the same for the Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station near Jenkinsville, South Carolina.

The granting of Design Certification by the NRC Commissioners acknowledges the recommendation of the NRC Staff that the AP1000 design is safe and meets all regulatory requirements for use in the U.S. It is the second time that the AP1000 design has gone through the rule-making process to receive Design Certification. The first certification was granted in 2006.

Since 2006, the AP1000 design has been modified to meet new and additional NRC requirements, including those that require the design to withstand the impact of an aircraft crash on its shield building, a steel reinforced concrete structure approximately three feet thick that protects the steel containment vessel, which houses the reactor. The safety design meets the NRC criteria that would allow a plant to safely cope with a Fukushima-type event, according to a Westinghouse statement.

Photo shows construction site at Plant Vogtle outside of Waynesboro, Georgia, as of Nov. 29, 2011, with new retaining wall for Unit 4 and heavy-lift derricks that will be used for 1,000-ton construction lifts. Courtesy of Southern Power.