OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
With the news of Bruce C, and of course the planned massive expansion of Ontario's nuclear capacity, pegged at 17GW by 2050 (Wesleyville, possibly Nanticoke, Bruce D...etc), everybody on the "home team" has been biting their nails hoping that SNC-Lavalin, who recently rebranded as AtkinsRéalis, would get their butts in gear and get a large-scale (gigawatt scale) CANDU on the table. The EC6, while an incredible design, isn't big enough for a grid the size of Ontario's when looking at the future capacity needed.
Bruce Power isn't married to building more CANDU's, despite operating 8 of them, which means the AP1000 and EPR are both in the running as potential designs. If a CANDU design was to be considered, there needed to be one that competed.
Unit schematic looks identical to the Gen III+ AECL design, the ACR-1000, which was a departure from the CANDU history of using unenriched uranium. That has been abandoned, this design appears to share the same civil works and HT system, but reverts to the Darlington/Bruce 480 fuel channel calandria, of which Ontario operates 12.
AtkinsRéalis is boldly advertising the unit as having a 95% capacity factor and a lifespan of 70 years, which means 35 years between mid-life refurbishments. Of course additional refurbishments are also possible, extending the lifespan to 105 years or more.
From their website:
The obvious advantage this design has is the commonality with the existing 18 CANDU units in Ontario, where we've already refurbished 5 and are in the process of refurbishing the rest. Anticipated operating life for the units at Bruce is now expected to be approaching 90 years. A new CANDU build would share the same supply chain already in place for the refurbishments, which means reduced supply cost, low risk, and an experienced workforce familiar with the technology.
We'll see how serious they are if we see the design submitted to the VDR, ideally before the others. With Westinghouse now being half owned by Cameco, I'm sure there will be pressure there as well for the choice of AP1000's.
Bruce Power isn't married to building more CANDU's, despite operating 8 of them, which means the AP1000 and EPR are both in the running as potential designs. If a CANDU design was to be considered, there needed to be one that competed.
Unit schematic looks identical to the Gen III+ AECL design, the ACR-1000, which was a departure from the CANDU history of using unenriched uranium. That has been abandoned, this design appears to share the same civil works and HT system, but reverts to the Darlington/Bruce 480 fuel channel calandria, of which Ontario operates 12.
AtkinsRéalis is boldly advertising the unit as having a 95% capacity factor and a lifespan of 70 years, which means 35 years between mid-life refurbishments. Of course additional refurbishments are also possible, extending the lifespan to 105 years or more.
From their website:
The obvious advantage this design has is the commonality with the existing 18 CANDU units in Ontario, where we've already refurbished 5 and are in the process of refurbishing the rest. Anticipated operating life for the units at Bruce is now expected to be approaching 90 years. A new CANDU build would share the same supply chain already in place for the refurbishments, which means reduced supply cost, low risk, and an experienced workforce familiar with the technology.
We'll see how serious they are if we see the design submitted to the VDR, ideally before the others. With Westinghouse now being half owned by Cameco, I'm sure there will be pressure there as well for the choice of AP1000's.