Horizon prepares for Wylfa equipment purchases

26 November 2014

Horizon Nuclear Power has signed an agreement with the UK nuclear regulator which paves the way for it to begin buying long-lead components for the planned Wylfa Newydd plant.

Wylfa Newydd site - aerial - 460 (Horizon)
How the two Wylfa Newydd ABWRs could appear alongside the existing Wylfa plant
(Image: Horizon)

The company said that it has signed a deed with the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to give the regulator oversight of its procurement activities for long-lead items before Horizon applies for a full nuclear site licence at Wylfa.

Long-lead items are those parts of the reactor and associated technologies that take a significant amount of time to manufacture and are needed early in the construction phase. These components include such things as the reactor pressure vessels, coolant pumps and the containment vessel.

Horizon will inform the ONR of its schedule for procurement of equipment for Wylfa Newydd and make documents, activities and premises relating to the procurement of long-lead items available for inspection. Horizon will also work with the ONR to ensure that all procurement activities for these items comply with the regulator's standard licence conditions.

Horizon's director of licensing and permitting Janet Wilson said, "This is a significant milestone for Horizon as it marks another step in our journey to becoming a nuclear site licensee and the construction and operation of Wylfa Newydd."

Horizon, which was acquired by Hitachi of Japan in November 2012, plans to build two Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWRs) at both its Wylfa site on the island of Anglesey in north Wales and its Oldbury site in Gloucestershire. The units would be the first commercial boiling water reactors in the UK.

Horizon expects to have all the required licences and permissions in place for the Wylfa Newydd project by 2018. It is planning on the basis of site works beginning around 2015, leading to the start of major on-site work in 2018 and first nuclear construction around 2019. Horizon said that the start of commercial operation of the plant depends on the timing of a final investment decision and detailed construction program, but is expected in the first half of the 2020s.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News