Lloyd’s Register has been selected as the independent third-party inspection agency (ITPIA) for Horizon Nuclear Power’s new NPP project at Wylfa Newydd in Wales. Lloyd’s Register will inspect the manufacturing and production of the plant’s safety-critical equipment, "ensuring that it is built to the approved design and specification to safeguard safety and operational capability". Although it will work under the direction of Horizon, Lloyds Register said the ITPIA role "will provide independent inspection and monitoring alongside Horizon’s capability as an ‘intelligent customer’, demonstrating to the nuclear regulators the effective oversight and management of the supply chain".
Lloyd’s Register was involved in the design appraisal and survey of the UK’s first NPP at Calder Hall more than 60 years ago. The company was also appointed ITPIA for the last nuclear plant built in the UK at Sizewell B where it "continues to perform statutory inspection duties to this day".
Horizon, which plans to build two UK advanced boiling water reactors (UK ABWRs) at Wylfa Newydd, on the Isle of Anglesey in Wales, told UK lawmakers last month that it was confident about the future of the project, but said additional investors are being sought for the construction phase. Horizon was formed in 2009 to develop new NPPs in the UK. The company was acquired by Hitachi in November 2012. Horizon has said previously that it expects "major on-site work" to start at Wylfa Newydd in 2018 with construction starting around 2019. Horizon also plans to build UK ABWRs at Oldbury-on-Severn in England.