“The timely issuance of the DSER for the AP1000 means that this advanced technology will achieve NRC Design Certification at the same time that US utilities will be making their decisions about new nuclear construction,” he said.
Tritch noted that the DSER was received in a record time of just 15 months from submitting the application, and in only 12 months from the time the NRC docketed the application. He attributed this to the dedicated efforts of the NRC and Westinghouse staffs, and the similarity of the AP1000 to the AP600, which received Design Certification in 1999.
The next step in the process is issuance of a final safety evaluation report that will be followed by Final Design Approval and then actual Design Certification. Westinghouse expects design certification as early as mid 2004, but no later than the end of 2005.
