Application of up-front licensing

For nuclear power to succeed in the era of cheap fossil fuels, one of the several sources of risk that must be countered is licensing risk. The effort towards 'upfront' licensing was pioneered in Canada by AECL with the CANDU 3 standard product design. The CANDU 3 design has been formally reviewed by AECB staff for a number of years. The CANDU 9 design has just started the up-front licensing process. The process gives designers, regulators and potential customers early confidence in the licensability of future plants.