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ONR GDA cost

Date released
7 October 2022
Request number

202209033

Release of information under
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Information requested

I am writing to ask about the cost of the ONR' s Generic Design Assessment (GDA) procedure. More specifically:

What has been the cost of the GDA procedure in total (by my understanding there have been four completed ones, with the Rolls Royce SMR ongoing- if I have missed any, including unsuccessful ones please include these)? If possible, a breakdown of money spent by the ONR and participating companies would be ideal. If a cost for each GDA is not possible to disclose, an overall cost for the process would be fine.

Information released

We confirm that under s.1 of the FOIA, we hold some of the information relevant to your request. Please see the table below detailing the cost to ONR of undertaking the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) of the Requesting Party’s design (including the use of specialist Technical Support Contractors).

  UK EPR AP1000 UK ABWR UK HPR1000
Step 1-4 Total Cost £23,500,000 £23,000,000 £34,000,000 £41,900,000
GDA Closure Phase Total Cost £7,500,000 £11,500,000 N/A N/A
Overall Total Cost £31,000,000 £34,500,000 £34,000,000 £41,900,000

It is important to note that these are only costs to ONR. The GDA process is completed jointly with the Environment Agency/Natural Resources Wales. We confirm we do not hold information in relation to their costs.

These agencies can be contacted at the following links:

In addition, the figures do not include the cost to the Requesting Party of undertaking the GDA. We confirm we do not hold information in relation to their costs.

Further Information

Extensive details on the purpose, objectives and outcomes of previous GDAs can be found on ONR’s website at the following link:

At the end of each GDA, ONR published a summary report. The summary reports are available at the following links:

Exemptions applied

N/A

PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable

N/A