Political India: Engaging America

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission has voted to approve a rule certifying an amended version of nuclear reactor producer Westinghouse's AP1000 reactor design for use in the U.S. The NRC said that this amended certification would be incorporated into regulations and be valid for 15 years.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko said “The Commission is able to reach this final step in approving the amended AP1000 reactor design due to the staff's dedicated work ensuring the design meets NRC's safety requirements.” The approval by the NRC clears the path for two utility companies to embark on a slew of construction on projects in the U.S. states of South Carolina and Georgia, reports said. 

Assessment

He added that the design provided “enhanced safety margins through use of simplified, inherent, passive, or other innovative safety and security functions, and also has been assessed to ensure it could withstand damage from an aircraft impact without significant release of radioactive materials.”

While the certification issue for the Westinghouse reactor had been plagued by doubts following the nuclear accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear installation in Japan in March 2011, the subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation has now won a considerable victory in obtaining the NRC approval. Specifically, the AP1000 includes design improvements that will ensure that it shuts down safely in the event of a catastrophic loss of electrical power, as occurred in the Fukushima-Daiichi case.

In announcing its approval, the NRC touched upon some of the design aspects of the AP1000 that had clearly appealed to the Commission. The NRC noted that the AP1000 was a 1,100 MW electric pressurised-water reactor that included “passive safety features that would cool down the reactor after an accident without the need for human intervention.”

Certification

The NRC further noted that Westinghouse had submitted an application for certification of the original AP1000 standard plant design on March 28, 2002, and that the NRC issued a rule certifying that design on January 27, 2006. Evidently, design improvements, possibly required by the NRC, extended the review process by five years. The NRC's latest certification to Westinghouse comes in the wake of the latter's application to amend the AP1000, submitted on May 27, 2007.

The NRC's extensive technical review of the amendment request focussed on ensuring the agency's safety requirements had been met, NRC officials said.

In 2010, an Indian official had said to The Hindu, “We are aware of the issue of safety concerns in the AP1000 reactors. These are not insurmountable but they will have to be addressed before they are brought to India.” India has still not proceeded with inking any deals with U.S. nuclear power companies to invest in reactors given outstanding concerns about whether India's nuclear liability law offers adequate protections to suppliers.