Horizon Awards Frazer Nash Licensing Contract

by David Phillips
(Anglesey)

Horizon Nuclear Power which is planning a new power station at Wylfa has awarded Frazer-Nash a contract for providing licensing and regulatory services.

According to World Nuclear News, the engineering consultancy Frazer-Nash has secured a five year framework contract for services which will be an essential part of the overall construction programme for new nuclear build in Britain.

Forming a joint venture between RWE Npower and E.ON UK, Horizon aims to build two nuclear power stations on land it has bought at Wylfa, Anglesey and at Oldbury in Gloucestershire.

It seems the five year framework contract with Frazer-Nash will in the first instance facilitate Horizon's obligatory submission of site licence applications for the above two proposed locations.

As an engineering consultancy, Frazer-Nash is already involved in a big way in paving the way for the UK's next generation of nuclear power stations.

Business Manager for the firm, Paul Deeran, said these new regulatory and licensing contracts will complement the firms existing involvement with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) on the Generic Design Assessment (GDA)relating to choice of new reactor design.

For Horizon Nuclear Power the aim is to commission the first reactor at Wylfa by as early as 2020. To meet this tight timetable, it is expected a planning application for Wylfa B will be submitted as early as 2012.

As yet Horizon has not made it clear which of the two most likely reactor designs it plans to build. The choice is between either the Westinghouse AP1000 or the Areva EPR, both of which are currently being subjected to the thorough and rigorous GDA process.

Assuming the two reactor designs make it through the GDA, it is expected that certification for build would be ready by June 2011.

As for the site license component of this huge infrastructure project, John Baker, who heads Horizon's regulatory and licensing division, said this is a "pre-requisite" if the joint venture's goal of developing around 6 GW of generating capacity in the UK is to be achieved by 2025.

The future of Anglesey's economy and the enormous potential of quality jobs for local people is hugely reliant on a smooth and successful completion of the many stages in this new nuclear build programme.

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