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Last Energy GDA

  • Date released: 29 April 2025
  • Request Number: 202504002
  • Release of information under: FOI

Information requested

I am submitting this request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to obtain information regarding any decisions made not to request that the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) conduct a Generic Design Assessment on the new 20 MWe PWR Small Nuclear Reactor design being proposed by Last Energy UK Ltd for the Llynfi Clean Energy Project. 

Specifically, I request copies of any relevant documents, reports, meeting minutes, correspondence, or internal communications that detail:  

  • The rationale for not proceeding with a GDA  
  • The timeline of the decision-making process  
  • The individuals, departments, or external bodies involved in the decision  

If any of this information is exempt from disclosure, I would appreciate a detailed explanation of the exemption applied. Additionally, if some parts of the request can be fulfilled while others cannot, please provide as much information as possible. If any part of this request is likely to exceed cost limits, please advise on how it might be refined to remain within the limits.

Information released

We confirm that under s.1 of the FOIA, we do not hold the information you have requested. This is because entry to Generic Design Assessment (GDA) of new nuclear power stations is a decision made by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), not ONR. GDA is a voluntary process, not a legal requirement, and the regulators carry out GDA for nuclear power plant designs that the UK government has asked them to do.

Last Energy have instead chosen to enter directly into our nuclear site licensing process.

Further information

It is important to note that before a new nuclear power station can be built and operated the operator must obtain a number of key site specific permissions from regulators and Government. These include a nuclear site licence and relevant consents from ONR, environmental permits from the Environment Agency or Natural Resources Wales, and planning permission from the relevant planning authority. In the licensing process we assess the capability of the operator and the suitability of the site to support safe and secure nuclear operations. This includes judgments on the safety of the design on a site-specific basis, rather than generically. Nuclear site licences, when granted, establish a permissioning regime, and subsequent nuclear-related construction is subject to further permissioning assessments by ONR.

Further information on the nuclear site licensing process can be found here:

Further information on GDA entry can be found here:

Exemptions applied

N/A

PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable

N/A