Early regulatory engagement on new nuclear projects

ONR, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) have developed a process for early regulatory engagement for persons seeking to deploy reactor technology in Great Britain.

We have designed these pages so they are accessible to anyone with an interest in the early engagement process including regulators, those wishing to enter the early engagement process and the general public. 

Background

The government’s ambition for new nuclear has signaled increased demand for engagement with regulators.  The early engagement process facilitates access to regulators to those wishing deploy nuclear reactor technology, out with more formal processes,  such that organisations can benefit from early advice and guidance.

Early engagement is available to any party requesting early engagement on a proposed deployment in GB, including reactor technology vendors, developers or aspirant licence/ permit holders (or consortia of these).

Benefits of early engagement

• Applicants gain an understanding of regulatory processes and routes to deployment
• Regulators gain an understanding of technologies proposed for deployment and operation, and the status of the safety, security and environmental justifications
•  Vendors gain an understanding  of key regulatory expectations and requirements for such justifications
• Vendors receive regulatory advice and guidance ahead of entering formal regulatory processes, enabling them to de-risk later project stages
• Regulators gain an understanding of the maturity of potential licensees/ permit holders and the readiness of applicants to progress to more formal regulatory processes, enabling effective prioritisation and management of regulatory resource.

How we do early engagement

There are three approaches, or tiers, to early engagement:

1. One day engagement – a single event for regulators to set out the UK regulatory framework, explain the available pathways, and highlight key risks and opportunities. This is a pre-requisite for subsequent ‘tiers’.
2. Regulatory process and technical engagements – a series of structured engagements on a range of topics to be agreed between the applicant and the regulators, building on the one day engagement and explaining in much greater detail the specific matters of interest.
3.  Preliminary design review – technical review of certain aspects of a reactor design, based on regulatory submissions provided by the applicant.

Early engagement is a voluntary process which is designed to be flexible. The approaches are not mandatory, prescriptive, or fixed in scope.

Guidance

The regulators have published guidance material on the early engagement process.

This guidance is aimed principally at organisations wishing to enter the process, but may also be helpful to other parties interested in the process.

We will keep the process and guidance under review as we gather experience and feedback from delivering early engagement.

Who are we engaging with?

The following table lists the organisations which have entered the early engagement process and the status of our engagements.