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Vendor design review

A vendor design review (VDR) is an optional service provided by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). A VDR is made at the request of a vendor (a seller of the design, often the designer).

About

A VDR is a mechanism that enables CNSC staff to provide feedback to a vendor early in the design process of its nuclear power plant (NPP). These designs can include small modular reactor (SMR) concepts, advanced reactor concepts or more traditional designs.

The objective of a VDR is to verify at a high level that Canadian nuclear regulatory requirements and expectations are met. Regulatory expectations cover Canadian codes and standards.

A VDR also serves to identify and potentially resolve any fundamental barriers to licensing for a new design in Canada.

An application for a VDR is not an application for any type of licence under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act. A VDR does not involve the issuance of a licence and does not certify a reactor design. It is not required as part of the licensing process for a new NPP.

A VDR takes place in 3 phases. Each phase is conducted against applicable CNSC regulatory documents and Canadian codes and standards.

Phase 1: Assessment of intent to comply with regulatory requirements

This phase involves an assessment of the vendor’s preliminary design and design processes against REGDOC-2.5.2, Design of Reactor Facilities. They are also assessed under other related CNSC regulatory documents and Canadian codes and standards.

The design is more conceptual at this stage. It may not be possible for the vendor to demonstrate that it meets regulatory requirements and expectations. Instead, the purpose of a Phase 1 VDR is to determine that the vendor understands and intends to meet CNSC regulatory requirements and expectations.

Phase 2: Assessment of compliance and for potential fundamental barriers to licensing

The reactor design is expected to go into further detail as it progresses from the conceptual stage to the engineering stage. The vendor is expected to demonstrate that the design meets CNSC regulatory requirements and expectations during this progression.

The completion of a Phase 2 review will identify any potential fundamental barriers to licensing the NPP design in Canada.

Phase 3: Follow-up

This phase allows the vendor to follow up on certain aspects of unresolved issues from Phase 2. A vendor can:

  • seek more information from the CNSC about any Phase 2 issues
  • ask the CNSC to review the activities it has undertaken after the completion of Phase 2 to ensure the reactor’s design readiness

For more information on the CNSC’s VDR process, see REGDOC-3.5.4, Pre-Licensing Review of a Vendor’s Reactor Design.

Service agreements

VDRs are carried out as part of a service agreement. A service agreement is a legal document that establishes the terms and conditions between the CNSC and a reactor vendor. These terms and conditions enable the CNSC to conduct a VDR in accordance with the Nuclear Safety and Control Act and its regulations.

The agreement serves as a mechanism for:

  • preserving the CNSC’s regulatory independence by reinforcing the fact that the VDR being undertaken:
    • does not certify a reactor design
    • does not involve the issuance of a licence under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act
    • is not required as part of the licensing process for a new NPP; the conclusions of any design review do not bind or otherwise influence future decisions made by the Commission
  • recovering costs for the work done by CNSC staff on the review
  • ensuring that the objectives and conduct of a VDR remain consistent from one vendor to the next, thereby ensuring fairness of treatment
  • striking a balance between:
    • protecting a vendor’s sensitive commercial information providing CNSC staff with access to this information for the purposes of performing an effective review
    • transparently communicating the CNSC’s activities to the public, to the extent practicable

The detailed information resulting from a VDR is considered commercially confidential according to the terms of the service agreement. The final deliverable of a VDR is an integrated report that summarizes CNSC staff’s overall assessment of the design. CNSC staff publish an executive summary of the report in the “Completed reviews” section below.

Prioritization

Before a VDR is undertaken it must be determined whether there is:

  • sufficient CNSC staff to carry out the review
  • evidence that the conceptual design and basic engineering program are advanced enough to ensure that the review will be useful

The CNSC’s approach to accepting VDR applications is to give priority to vendors who can provide evidence that their designs are, or may become, part of a future Canadian reactor deployment. This is done to optimize the resources of the CNSC and best fulfill its mandate and obligations to Canadians.

Some examples of this evidence can be:

  • a demonstrated partnership between the vendor and an existing utility (potential applicant), with a formal commitment to the vendor to build its design in Canada
  • a signal from the Government of Canada, made in consultation with provincial stakeholders:
    • that a review of a reactor design is in the national interest (includes technology development funding)
  • proof that the vendor has applied to a provincial selection process that is in progress

Current reviews

The following table lists the vendors that have a service agreement in force with the CNSC for a VDR of their reactor design. An executive summary of the project report is posted on this web page at the end of each VDR phase. See the links under the section “Completed reviews”.

For questions about the VDR process, contact us.

Current vendor design review service agreements between vendors and the CNSC
Vendor Name of design (cooling type) Approximate electrical capacity Applied for Review start date Review status
Westinghouse Electric Company eVinci (heat pipes / solid core) 5 MWe Phase 2* June 2023 On hold
Candu Energy Inc. CANDU MONARK-D (heavy water) 9000 MWe Preliminary Regulatory Design Assessment TBD** Planning in progress

*Phase 1 objectives will be addressed within the Phase 2 scope of work.

**The service agreement is for familiarizing CNSC staff with the CANDU MONARK design. It is also for planning the scope and timeline of a future pre-licensing design review.

MWe = megawatts electric

CANDU = Canada deuterium uranium

Completed reviews

A list of completed reviews follows. The CNSC is able to post the executive summaries only, given the commercially sensitive and proprietary information in the full reports. Contact the associated vendor for any detailed information about the results of a VDR.

X-energy – Xe-100 high-temperature gas

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy – BWRX-300

Moltex Energy – SSR-W300

SMR, LLC (Holtec International) – SMR-160

ARC Clean Technology – ARC-100

USNC-Power Ltd. – MMR

Terrestrial Energy Inc. – IMSR400

Candu Energy Inc. – EC6

Westinghouse Electric Company – AP1000

ATMEA – ATMEA1

AECL – ACR-1000

Preliminary regulatory design assessment

A preliminary regulatory design assessment is a mechanism. It enables CNSC staff to provide feedback early in the design process for individual elements of a vendor’s technology. The assessment uses aspects of the VDR process but without assessing the full reactor design.

Learn more about preliminary regulatory design assessments.

More information

For more information, contact us.

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