The British Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), the Environment Agency (EA) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) have endorsed the UK Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (UK ABWR) designed by Hitachi and General Electric (GE). The ONR has granted the Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC), while the NRW and the EA have granted the reactor a Statement of Design Acceptability (SoDA).
The reactor has been granted a Generic Design Assessment (GDA) and is now suitable for construction in the United Kingdom. Two reactor projects have been proposed by Horizon Nuclear Power in Wylfa Newydd (Anglesey) and Oldbury-on-Severn near Thornbury (South Gloucestershire); the applications for a development consent order to build the two power plants are expected to be filed in 2018.
Horizon Nuclear Power plans to invest £19bn (€23bn) in the construction of the Wylfa Newydd nuclear project, which would consist of up to four Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs) with a combined capacity of around 5,400 MW on the site of the former 980 MW Wylfa nuclear power plant. The units would be the first commercial boiling water reactors in the UK and could start as early as 2025.