Move will reflect experience from Vogtle project boost plans for major reactor rollout
Westinghouse has cleared a hurdle in its bid to renew and update the standard design certification for its AP1000 reactor with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s approval of an exemption from scheduling requirements that limit when an applicant can apply for a renewal.
According to NRC rules, an applicant can apply for design certification renewal “not less than 12 nor more than 36 months before the expiration of the initial 40-year period”.
Westinghouse’s renewal application, submitted on 7 April, came well before the expiration of the AP1000 design certification in 2046.
The exemption request was granted by the NRC on 24 June.
The NRC said: “The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued an exemption in response to an April 7, 2026, request from Westinghouse Electric Company LLC (Westinghouse) from requirements to apply for renewal of the AP1000 design certification more than 36 months before the expiration of the initial 40-year period.”
It said the renewal request and associated amendment would update the AP1000 design control document to reflect construction and operating experience from AP1000 nuclear power plants operating in the US, which would allow for consistency and standardisation in future AP1000 applications.
Westinghouse’s application formally incorporates the lessons learned from the construction of the Vogtle-3 and -4 AP1000 nuclear plants in Georgia into the design certification of the AP1000.
Renewing the design certification and updating the extensive design certification documentation now enables Westinghouse to push ahead with plans to have 10 new AP1000s under construction by 2030.
Those plans received a boost in June when the Department of Energy announced $17.5bn (€15.2bn) in conditional supply chain loans intended to help finance equipment procurements for five twin-unit AP1000 projects.
The loans would help companies procure items such as reactor pressure vessels and steam generators, which can take years to secure, and potentially reduce the time to build the AP1000 nuclear plants.
The DOE said Westinghouse’s AP1000 units are the only licensed large-scale advanced commercial reactors operating in the US with the two units at Vogtle in Georgia.
The revisions proposed by Westinghouse in the application establish Vogtle-4 as the standard AP1000 reference plant for US deployment.
According to Westinghouse, the change will accelerate new AP1000 combined licence applications, enable a rapid fleet deployment, and generally take advantage of the time and cost savings achieved in the AP1000 deployment at Vogtle.
