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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued a final design approval to Westinghouse Electric Company on September 3, 1998, for its AP600 standard nuclear reactor design, which was developed in partnership with the Department of Energy (DOE).

Issuance of the final design approval completes the NRC's technical review of the application for design certification. The NRC's detailed findings are contained in a 3,000-page "Final Safety Evaluation Report," which is available from the Commission.

DOE (through the Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology) and the U.S. nuclear industry cooperated in a successful effort to develop the AP600 and two other Advanced Light Water Reactor (ALWR) plant designs. The other two plant designs -- the General Electric Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (GE-ABWR) and the ABB Combustion Engineering System 80+ -- were certified by the NRC in 1997.

The AP600 nuclear plant would be capable of producing 600 megawatts of electricity. The plant, which can be assembled from modular components, features enhanced safety systems that rely on gravity and other natural processes to safely shut down the reactor or mitigate the effects of an accident, if one were to occur.

Westinghouse may choose to proceed with design certification of the AP600 through a rulemaking process. Once the reactor is certified by the Commission, a utility could use the standardized design in an application for a combined construction permit and operating license. This single-step permitting is an improvement over the two-step process used in the construction of the existing commercial reactors in the U.S.