The GDA process

The GDA process looks at the safety, security and environmental aspects of the UK HPR1000 reactor design. The process has a number of steps, with the assessments getting increasingly detailed. The Requesting Party submitted certain documents to the regulators for review at each stage. Following their assessment at the end of each stage, the regulators published reports on their findings which highlighted any concerns or technical issues raised.

The table below summarises the four steps of the process and the submissions made to the regulators.

As well as the above, additional updates may be provided at each step.

We have published our submissions on this website, other than parts which contain sensitive nuclear information, export-controlled information or commercially confidential information.

Please note, the GDA process does not cover nuclear policy and principles, nor does it address the strategic siting of nuclear power stations. Further information on these topics can be found on the Department for Business, Energy and Strategy’s (BEIS) website.

The GDA process for the UK HPR1000 took five years from the start of Step 1, as shown in the diagram below.

During Step 4, the Environment Agency (EA) held a public consultation to seek views on its preliminary conclusions of the detailed assessment to date. This consultation ran between 11 January 2021 and 4 April 2021. Information about the consultation is on the EA website.

At the end of the GDA, a Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC) and Statement of Design Acceptability (SoDA) was issued from the ONR and EA respectively. Information and documents can be found on the joint EA and ONR website.

On completion of the GDA process on 7 February 2022, the ONR issued a Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC) and the EA a Statement of Design Acceptability (SoDA), along with the supporting technical assessment reports.

The GDA process has a number of benefits. These include that it:

• allows the regulators to get involved with designers at an early stage, where they can have maximum influence. Design changes required to address regulatory expectations are more easily implemented while the power station is still at the proposals stage rather than when construction has begun, or expensive items have been manufactured;
• is a step‐wise process, with the assessment getting increasingly detailed at each step. This allows the regulators to identify key design issues early in the process thereby reducing the financial and regulatory risks for developers intending to construct a power station based on the design;
• is open and transparent. The public can view our design information on the website and comment on it. The regulators also give regular feedback on how their assessments are progressing and publish reports at the end of each assessment step;
• allows for the separation of design issues from specific site related issues, which is likely to be beneficial where the generic design is intended for construction on a number of different sites.

Other key features of the GDA process are that it:

• gives us, the Requesting Party, the opportunity to demonstrate at an early stage that the design is capable of meeting the legal requirements of the UK;
• facilitates a rigorous assessment by the regulators;
• can be, where possible, be completed within reasonable and predictable timescales;
• facilitates joint working between ONR and the EA;
• gives clarity to regulators’ requirements, processes and timescales;
• has clear outcomes;
• leads to generic Pre‐Construction Safety, Environmental and Security Reports and to a DAC/SoDA, which can all be used in subsequent nuclear site licence applications and environmental permit applications.

At each step, we have issued documents to the regulators and published them in the Documents library of our website. To assist with wider understanding of the subject matter, we have, where relevant, published additional information where we feel it was appropriate and useful to do so. These documents are clearly marked as being separate from the formal regulatory submissions. During this time we invited the public to make a comment on the reactor design information and the formal regulatory submissions. All comments have been considered and responded to. We have shared all comments received, along with our responses, with the regulators. We have also created a common comments themes webpage with a summary of comments received and our responses.

Please note, comments received after 25 October 2019 were considered as part of the ONR’s assessment of Step 4.

During Step 4, the EA held a public consultation to seek views on its preliminary conclusions of the detailed assessment to date. The consultation helped to inform the EA’s decision on whether to issue a statement of design acceptability. This consultation ran between 11 January 2021 and 4 April 2021. Information about the consultation is on the EA website.

The GDA does not address the principle of nuclear or the strategic siting assessment, and any comments made on these were considered out of scope for the comments process.

The GDA process is just one step in the development of a new nuclear power station. Our Wider context page explains the wider process in more detail.

Further information on the GDA process can also be found on the regulators’ joint GDA website.