UK accepts X-energy Xe-100 into design assessment

Centrica and X-energy said on September 15 that the Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactor has been accepted into the United Kingdom's Generic Design Assessment after the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero directed regulators to begin the review. The assessment will be run by the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the Environment Agency and Natural Resources Wales, is expected to take about three years, and is meant to draw on design documentation already reviewed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The partners still want EDF and Centrica's Hartlepool site in north-east England as their first project ahead of a UK fleet of up to 6 GW, and said a decision on entry to the government's Advanced Nuclear Pipeline is expected imminently.