CANDU Reactors: Canadian Nuclear Power Generation

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CANDU ReactorsCanadian Nuclear Power Generation
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Introduction CANDU Worldwide

• From its wartime infancy, Canadas nuclear energy
  has grown to a 6.6 billion per year industry
• Employs over 30,000 people
• AECL (Atomic Energy of Canada Limited) is the
  designer and developer of the CANDU reactor, a
  unique to Canada design using natural (or lightly
  enriched uranium) as a fuel and heavy water as a
  coolant and a moderator

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Introduction CANDU Worldwide

• CANDU reactors are now in 7 countries world-wide
  (34 in total)
• Provide 14.6 of Canadas electricity

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Origins of CANDUTimeline

• 1950 George Laurence advocates a Canadian power
  reactor based on a natural uranium fuel and heavy
  water as a moderator
• 1952 Establishment of AECL
• 1954 Nuclear Power Group (NPG) established at
  Chalk River Laboratories
• 1956 Beginning of preliminary design of
  commercial reactor by NPG

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Origins of CANDUTimeline

• 1958 Nuclear Power Plant Division (NPPD), an
  engineering division of AECL was formed to design
  commercial plant
• June 1959 Federal approval received and land
  acquired for building at Douglas Point, Ontario
• November 15, 1966 Start-up of 1st reactor
• January 1967 First generation of electricity
• September 26, 1968 Full commercial operation
  declared, with the production of 220 MW to the
  Ontario grid

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CANDU ExportsIndia

• 1954 As part of an aid program, the Canadian
  government and AECL agreed to help India build a
  research reactor based on the NRX
• The 40 MW research reactor CIRUS (Canada India
  Reactor United States so named because the U.S.
  was to supply fuel and heavy water) went online
  in 1960

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CANDU ExportsIndia

• Also with aid from the Government of Canada,
  India purchased a power plant from AECL (RAPP-1)
• 1963 Construction began on RAPP-1, which had
  the same design as the Douglas point reactor
• 1972 RAPP-1 was completed and began providing
  electrical power

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CANDU ExportsIndia

• May 1974 During construction of RAPP-2, India
  tested a nuclear weapon using plutonium created
  in CIRUS. Work stopped and Canada ended its
  assistance to India
• India later built 16 more nuclear plants based on
  the CANDU design
• The two RAPP reactors remain under site-specific
  safeguards to that they are not used for military
  purposes

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CANDU ExportsIndia

• 1990 Canada asked by International Atomic
  Energy Agency (IAEA) to help India improve safety
  at the two RAPP reactors
• This assistance was again suspended in 1998 after
  India conducts a new series of nuclear explosion
  tests
• 2006 U.S. and India reach agreement placing 14
  of Indias 22 reactors under permanent safeguard
  allowing India to again trade in nuclear
  technology

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CANDU ExportsPakistan

• 1966 Pakistan enters agreement with Canada to
  construct 137 MW Karachi Nuclear Power Plant
  (KANUPP). Construction begins
• KANUPP was supplied by GE Canada based on NPD
  design and technology
• 1971 Civil war halts production
• October 1972 KANUPP begins supplying power

Image from www.candu.org
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CANDU ExportsPakistan

• 1972 Pakistan secretly starts nuclear weapons
  program
• 1976 Pakistan refuses to enter
  non-proliferation agreement. Canada withdraws
  assistance and suspends uranium fuel shipments.
  KANUPP, however, is under site-specific
  safeguards
• 1998 Pakistan detonates atomic explosion
• 20022005 KANUPP shut down for upgrades. Is the
  oldest CANDU still in operation

Image from www.candu.org
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CANDU ExportsArgentina

• 1975 Construction begins on Embalse CANDU
  generating station in Cordoba, Argentina
• Owned by Nucleoeléctric Argentina Sociedad
  Anónima (NASA)
• January 1984 Embalse begins commercial
  operation
• Reactor also produces cobalt-60, a commonly used
  medical and industrial radioisotope

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CANDU ExportsSouth Korea

• 1976 Construction begins on Wolsong Generating
  Station in South Korea
• This was the first 3rd generation reactor
  exported to Asia
• Three additional CANDU units have been added to
  the site

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CANDU ExportsRomania

• 1997 Cernavoda-1 located in Romania comes
  online
• First CANDU in Europe
• AECL also transferred its CANDU fuel and heavy
  water technologies so Romania could locally
  produce fuel bundles and heavy water
• 2007 Cernavoda-2 begins producing power

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CANDU ExportsChina

• 1998 AECL begins construction of Qinshan Phase
  III CANDU project in Haiyan County, Zhejiang
  Province, China. These were the first CANDU
  reactors in China, and the fourth and fifth
  nuclear reactors at the site
• The two 700 MW reactors came online in December
  2002 and July 2003 respectively
• 3-D Computer Aided Design and Drafting (CADD)
  helped this project come in ahead of schedule and
  under budget

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Canadas CANDUsOntario

• Pickering Station A four 515 MW units brought
  online between 1973 and 1975. Station B four
  515 MW units brought online between 1983 and
  1985
• Bruce Station A four 750 MW units brought
  online between 1977 and 1979. Station B four
  850 MW units brought online between 1984 and 1987
• Darlington four 880 MW reactors brought online
  between 1989 and 1992. Darlington is scheduled to
  have two additional reactors by 2018

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Canadas CANDUsQuebec and New Brunswick

• Gentilly-1 (near Trois-Rivières) brought online
  in 1971. It used heavy water as a moderator, but
  boiling light water as a coolant. Due to problems
  was taken out of service in 1977
• Gentilly-2, a 675 MW CANDU 6 brought online in
  1983
• Point Lepreau (on the Bay of Fundy), a 634 MW
  CANDU 6 brought online in 1982. 20082009 is a
  scheduled refurbishment of this reactor

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Conclusion

• CANDU reactors have been among the top performing
  reactors in the world
• Rising oil costs and concerns for the effects of
  greenhouse gas emissions on climate change have
  stimulated growth of the nuclear industry
• As of January, 2009 there are 43 new nuclear
  plants under construction and over 266 planned or
  proposed throughout the world