Westinghouse Electric Company, headquartered in Cranberry Township, just outside of Pittsburgh, announced it had received an extension on its AP1000 design certification through February 2046.
The extension of the licensing to a new 40-year design certification provides the company with a long-term basis to build AP1000 plants, the company said. The AP1000 plant is the only fully licensed, construction ready, advanced large modular reactor available today, officials said.
“The expansion of the AP1000 design certification to 40 years further positions the advanced AP1000 modular reactor as the leading solution to meet the bold vision of the U.S. to have 10 large-scale reactors under construction by 2030,” said Dan Lipman, President, Westinghouse Energy Systems. “In addition, the extension establishes a long-term licensing path to deploy our AP1000 technology abroad by providing international regulators with an established design that has already met rigorous safety standards. With the proven and operational AP1000 reactor fully licensed for the foreseeable future, Westinghouse can begin deployment work immediately with our partners to rapidly deliver multiple AP1000 units at the same time.”
Officials with the company said design certifications are licensing approvals by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that allow a nuclear power plant design to be built in the U.S. A valid AP1000 design certification also play a role in securing the separate site licenses, construction permits, and operating licenses needed to build and operate an AP1000 plant in the U.S. Recently, the NRC issued a change in the duration of a design certification from 15 years to 40 years.
Westinghouse officials said the AP1000 is the only Generation III+ reactor operating with fully passive safety systems and modular construction design. The AP1000 also has the smallest footprint per MWe on the market, the company said. Six AP1000 reactors are currently in operation worldwide and an additional 14 are under construction. Five more are under contract, officials said. The AP1000 technology has been selected for nuclear energy programs in Poland, Ukraine and Bulgaria, and is under consideration for multiple sites in Europe, the United Kingdom and North America.