GE-Hitachi Claims Progress In New Reactor Licensing

摘要

GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy claimed a "key milestone" Wednesday in the development of its new Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor, saying it has answered reams of technical questions and successfully updated its application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to have the reactor licensed for use in the United States.rnGE-Hitachi submitted the so-called ESBWR design to NRC for certification in 2005. Since then, however, the agency'srnschedule for reviewing the reactor has slipped because NRC staff has posed more than 6,000 technical questions to GE about the ESBWR design.rnThe situation reached a low point in 2007 when then-chairman of the NRC Dale Klein told the Wall Street Journal that he wanted GE to "get its act together" in responding to NRC staff's questions and helping advance the ESBWR review.rnKlein and NRC staff have since said that GE has made more timely responses.