Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Design Acceptance Certificate for the European Pressurised Reactor expires in December 2022.

A Design Acceptance Confirmation (DAC) completes the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) led by the UK’s independent regulators to assess non-site specific (i.e. generic) aspects of new reactor designs. GDA is not a statutory requirement of the nuclear licensing regime and the Office for Nuclear Regulation will only give permission for the start of construction of a nuclear power station based on a site specific safety case as part of the statutory licensing regime.

The DAC for the European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) was issued on 13 December 2012 and is valid for a period of ten years. Renewal of the DAC is not mandated. ONR expect to complete its assessment of the EPR site-specific safety case for Hinkley Point C in 2018.