European quest for standardisation of nuclear power reactors

The paper gives an overview of the international activities in the area of harmonisation of nuclear safety requirements, as a prerequisite for the potential approval of standard nuclear power plant designs in more than one country. The various initiatives, by both industry and regulatory organisations, are reviewed with the objective of drawing a conclusion on the long-term perspectives for standardisation of nuclear power plants in the European Union, together with the conditions that would have to be met in order to allow for this concept to be put in practice.