Sonal Patel of Power reports on a memorandum of cooperation (MOC) to speed up licensing for advanced reactors.
- The MOC will see American, Canadian, and British regulatory agencies collaborate on technical reviews and share best practices for advanced reactors and small modular reactor (SMR) technologies.
- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission are currently working together to license GE-Hitachi’s BWRX-300 SMR at Ontario Power’s Darlington Site.
- Regulations are one of the leading causes of project delays and cost overruns.
- A collaborative effort among regulators would hopefully reduce unnecessary red tape and bring more nuclear power online.
“The MOC will supersede earlier bilateral agreements between the entities. These include separate memoranda of understanding (MOU) for cooperation and exchange of information ‘in nuclear regulatory matters’ between the NRC and the CNSC, signed in March 2023; an MOU between the NRC and the ONR, signed in October 2020, and an MOU between the CNSC and the ONR, signed in October 2020.”
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