Consultation outcome

Consultation plan: GDA of Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd’s UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor

Updated 25 June 2018

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/gda-of-hitachi-ge-nuclear-energy-ltds-uk-advanced-boiling-water-reactor/gda-of-hitachi-ge-nuclear-energy-ltds-uk-advanced-boiling-water-reactor

Consultation plan

This is how the Environment Agency is proposing to consult with stakeholders on the generic design assessment (GDA) of Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd’s (Hitachi-GE) UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR).

This consultation plan is for members of the public and other stakeholders who:

  • want to share their knowledge with us
  • live or work in an area where this design may be proposed by a developer (currently Wylfa Newydd on Anglesey in north Wales and Oldbury in South Gloucestershire)
  • represent a ‘community’ they want to share this information with
  • are interested in how we assess new nuclear power station designs

Who our stakeholders are

Our stakeholders include:

  • members of the public (including local interest and action groups), particularly those living near existing nuclear power stations, or potential new nuclear power stations
  • elected representatives, including MPs
  • local councils and other representative bodies, especially those within 25 miles of potential nuclear new-build sites
  • non-government organisations
  • academics
  • the nuclear industry (including potential developers and operators)

Our objectives

We want to make sure that stakeholders:

  • understand how we assessed the reactor design
  • understand the findings of our assessment
  • have an opportunity to give us their views
  • know what will happen next
  • can help make our final decision on the acceptability of the reactor design as robust as possible

Keeping you informed

Regulators make decisions in GDAs about the acceptability of reactor designs. We want you to tell us what you think about our assessment of the UK ABWR to help inform our final decision.

We want to strengthen the trust and confidence people have in us as regulators by:

  • helping people understand what our role is in nuclear regulation and new-build (what we do and what we don’t do)
  • using your views to help us in our assessments
  • reaching a wide variety of stakeholders
  • making sure stakeholders know how they can give us their comments and views

We’ll inform our stakeholders through:

  • local community drop in events near Horizon’s proposed sites at Oldbury and Wylfa Newydd (supporting Natural Resources Wales at Wylfa Newydd)
  • a stakeholder participation workshop in Birmingham
  • participating in conferences, meetings and exhibitions run by others
  • emailing them and contributing to the joint nuclear regulators’ e-bulletin
  • publishing information on GOV.UK, including an online consultation
  • local media
  • community information
  • quarterly reports
  • Horizon Nuclear Power community channels
  • social media

Tell us what you think

We’ll prepare a document that sets out our preliminary conclusions on the design. We’ll consult you on these conclusions in England between 12 December 2016 and 3 March 2017. Natural Resources Wales will consult on these conclusions in Wales.

When the consultation starts we’ll add a link to this page so you can respond to the consultation.

Hitachi-GE’s comments process is a requirement of our GDA process. The process started in January 2014 and Hitachi-GE has received 61 comments to date.

How we’ll respond

We will:

  • record, consider and respond to all comments relevant to our roles
  • use these comments to help inform our assessments, where relevant
  • publish a compilation of responses made to the consultation on GOV.UK in July 2017
  • publish our final decision document on GOV.UK in December 2017

More information

The findings of the Sciencewise research informed this consultation plan.

Contact us

Please email your comments about these proposals to: NCCC_CustomerSatisfa@environment-agency.gov.uk.

Or contact the GDA team at the Environment Agency:

Declan Roscoe
Environment Agency
Ghyll Mount
Gillan Way
Penrith 40 Business Park
Penrith
Cumbria
CA11 9BP

Email us to join our mailing list gda@environment-agency.gov.uk

For enquiries about generic design assessment in Wales contact Natural Resources Wales on 0300 0653000 (see call charges).

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