France-based nuclear start-up newcleo said its LFR-AS-200 small modular lead-cooled fast reactor has been accepted to enter the UK’s Generic Design Assessment (GDA) process, Newcleo applied to the UK Department of Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) for approval to enter the GDA in December 2024.
UK regulators – the Environment Agency (EA), the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) – use the GDA to scrutinise new nuclear power plant designs and assess their acceptability for use in the UK. GDA is not a legal requirement, and the regulators will only consider carrying out an assessment for NPP designs that the UK government has asked them to consider. This is because decisions about which designs should be assessed are national strategic matters that are outside the regulators’ responsibility. In May 2021, the UK government opened the GDA process to advanced nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors (SMRs).
Newcleo has said it aims to complete a two-step GDA with the ONR and EA, including a fundamental assessment of their technology by the regulators. The GDA would take around two. This step followed newcleo’s application to the UK authorities for a Regulatory Justification Decision on the LFR-AS-200 in April – the first such application for an advanced modular reactor.
GDAs have already been completed for the EDF/Areva UK EPR, the Westinghouse AP1000, the Hitachi-GE UK ABWR and the CGN/EDF/GNI UK HPR1000 designs. In process are GDAs for Rolls-Royce SMR Limited’s SMR design, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s BWRX-300 and Holtec International’s SMR-300. Westinghouse’s AP300 was accepted in August 2024.
According to newcleo’s delivery roadmap, the first non-nuclear pre-cursor prototype of its lead-cooled fast reactor is expected to be ready by 2026 in Italy, the first reactor operational in France by the end of 2031, while the final investment decision for the first commercial power plant is expected around 2029.
Since its establishment, newcleo has been very active in fundraising and signing partnership and collaboration agreements. Its business now counts over 90 partnerships, and more than 1,000 employees based in 19 locations across France, Italy, the UK, Switzerland, and Slovakia, including three manufacturing facilities.
While newcleo’s website extol the virtues of the LFR, there is scant detail of the nuclear technology that will power the reactor, although there appears to be some progress on non-nuclear components of the design.
Currently, the only operating liquid metal-cooled fast reactors are in Russia, using sodium as the coolant. Russia is also constructing the world’s first ever lead-cooled SMR (Brest-OD-300). This reactor is based on decades of complex research and development supported by the entire Russian nuclear industry. It is due to begin operation in 2029. By contrast, newcleo’s technologies remain in the very early conceptual design stage.
