Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is a Canadian Crown corporation and the largest nuclear science and technology laboratory in Canada. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the 1950s, and in October 2011 licensed this technology to Candu Energy.
AECL describes its goal as ensuring that "Canadians and the world receive energy, environmental and economic benefits from nuclear science and technology – with confidence that nuclear safety and security are assured".
AECL is funded through a combination of federal government appropriations and commercial revenue. In 2009, AECL received CA$651(equivalent to $893.99 in 2023)million in federal support.[citation needed]
In October 2011 the federal government of Canada sold the commercial CANDU design and marketing business of AECL to Candu Energy for CA$15million (including 15 years worth of royalties, the government could get back as much as CA$285million). The sale entered the exclusive negotiation stage in February, a month after the other bidder, Bruce Power pulled out).[2][3][4][5] Poor sales and cost overruns (CA$1.2billion in the last five years) were reasons for the divestment though SNC-Lavalin expects to reverse that trend by focusing on new generation reactors.[6] SNC-Lavalin Nuclear Inc, SNC's nuclear subsidiary is already part of Team CANDU, a group of five companies that manufacture and refurbish the CANDU reactors.[7] The government will continue to own the Chalk River Laboratories (produces isotopes for medical imaging).[8] The transaction puts 800 jobs at risk while improving job security for 1,200 employees. Due to safety concerns many countries are considering thorium nuclear reactors which AECL's CANDU reactors easily convert into[9] (from uranium fuelled). Higher energy yields using thorium as the fuel (1 tonne (0.98 long tons; 1.1 short tons) of thorium produces the same amount of energy as 200 tonnes (200 long tons; 220 short tons) tons of uranium) also makes it more attractive.[10]OMERS has also shown interest in the company.[2]
In 1944, approval was given by the federal government to begin with construction of the ZEEP (Zero Energy Experimental Pile) reactor at the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories near Chalk River, Ontario, located on the Ottawa River approximately 190km northwest of Ottawa. AECL was also involved in the development of associated technology such as the UTEC computer.
On September 5, 1945, the ZEEP reactor first went critical, achieving the first "self-sustained nuclear reaction outside the United States".[13] ZEEP put Canada at the forefront of nuclear research in the world and was the instigator behind eventual development of the CANDU reactors, ZEEP having operated as a research reactor until the early 1970s.
In 1946 the Montreal research laboratory was closed and research was consolidated at Chalk River Laboratories. On July 22, 1947, the NRX (National Research Experimental) reactor, the most powerful reactor in the world at the time, went critical and was "used successfully for producing radioisotopes, undertaking fuels and materials development work for CANDU reactors, and providing neutrons for physics experiments".[13]
1950s
In 1952 AECL was formed by the government with a mandate to develop peaceful uses of nuclear energy.
On December 12, 1952, one of the world's first major reactor accidents occurred in the NRX reactor at AECL's Chalk River Laboratories, when a combination of human and mechanical error led to a temporary loss of control over the reactor's power level. Undercooling of the fuel channels led to a partial meltdown. This caused a hydrogen-oxygen explosion inside the calandria. Several fuel bundles experienced melting and ruptured, rendering much of the core interior unusable. The reactor building was contaminated, as well as an area of the Chalk River site, and millions of gallons of radioactive water accumulated in the reactor basement. This water was pumped to a waste management area of the Laboratories and monitored. Hundreds of military personnel from Canada and the U.S. (including naval officer and later U.S. President, LT James "Jimmy" Carter) were employed in the cleanup and disposal of the reactor debris.
The NRX was repaired, upgraded, and returned to service 14 months later and operated for another 40 years, finally being shut down in 1992. Throughout the 1950s the NRX was used by many researchers in the pioneering fields of neutron condensed matter physics, including Dr. Bertram Brockhouse, who shared the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in developing the neutron scattering techniques.
The NRU opened in 1957.[14] On November 3,[citation needed] 1957 the NRU (National Research Universal Reactor) first went critical. This was a natural-uranium fuelled, heavy-water moderated and cooled research reactor (converted to high-enriched-uranium fuel in the 1960s, and finally to low-enriched-uranium fuel in the 1990s). The NRU is a world-renowned research facility, producing about 60% of the world's supply of molybdenum-99, the principle isotope used for nuclear medical diagnosis. Canada also pioneered use of cobalt-60 for medical diagnosis in 1951 and currently the NRU reactor produces the medical-use cobalt-60, while selected CANDU reactors produce industrial-use cobalt-60, comprising 85% of the world's supply. NRU was primarily a Canadian design, and a significant improvement on NRX. Other than radioisotope production, the NRU provides irradiation services for nuclear materials and fuels testing, as well as producing neutron beams for the National Research Council's Canadian Neutron Beam Laboratory.
On May 24, 1958, the NRU suffered a major accident. A damaged uranium fuel rod caught fire and was torn in two as it was being removed from the core, due to inadequate cooling. The fire was extinguished, but not before releasing a sizeable quantity of radioactive combustion products that contaminated the interior of the reactor building and, to a lesser degree, an area of the surrounding laboratory site. Over 600 people were employed in the clean-up.
No immediate injuries resulted from AECL's two accidents, but there were over-exposures to radiation. In the case of the NRU cleanup, this resulted in at least one documented case of latent, life-changing injury, as well as allegations that radiation monitoring and protection were inadequate (meaning that additional latent injuries would have gone unrecognized or unacknowledged).[15][16]
AECL built a larger CANDU prototype (200 MWe) at Douglas Point on Lake Huron, first going critical on November 15, 1966. Douglas Point experienced significant problems with leakage of heavy water, which were eventually solved by much-improved valve design. Other important design refinements worked out at Douglas Point opened the way for upscaling to commercial power CANDU reactors in subsequent years.
1970s
In 1971 the first commercial CANDU reactor, Pickering A 1, began commercial operation. By 1973 the other three reactors of the A group at Pickering were online and constituted the most powerful nuclear facility in the world at that time. Each Pickering unit produces about 600 MWe of power.
On May 18, 1974, India detonated a nuclear bomb made from plutonium manufactured by the CIRUS research reactor built by AECL in 1956, which was a commercial version of its NRX research reactor. In addition AECL built two power reactors in India based on the Douglas Point design, and many of India's other reactors are domestic variants of this design. The connection between India's nuclear weapons program and its CIRUS research reactor led to a severance of nuclear technological cooperation between Canada and India.[17]
In 1977–1978 the Bruce A group went online and began commercial operation. Each Bruce unit produces about 800 MWe of power. In 1978, Whiteshell Labs began research into fuel waste disposal.
1980s
Between 1983 and 1986, the Pickering B group went online and also in 1983 the single CANDU reactor at Point Lepreau began operation, as did the Gentilly 2 CANDU reactor. Between 1984 and 1987 the Bruce B group began commercial operation, and also in 1987 the CANDU design was ranked one of Canada's top-10 engineering achievements.
Douglas Point was decommissioned in May, 1984.
Between 1985 and 1987, a series of design flaws in AECL's Therac-25 medical accelerator caused massive overdoses of radiation[18] on 6 different occasions, resulting in five deaths. In 1987 the machine was found defective by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and eventually recalled by AECL despite their multiple denials that the problems existed.
1990s
Between 1990 and 1993, the 4 CANDU reactors at Darlington went online and represent the most recent reactor construction in Canada.
With a contract signed in 1991, AECL, in partnership with MDS Nordion, began construction of the MAPLE dedicated isotope-production facility. Constructed on-site at AECL's Chalk River Laboratories this facility would house two reactors and an isotope processing facility. Each reactor was designed to be able to produce at least 100% of the world's medical isotopes, meaning that the second reactor would be used as a back-up to ensure an uninterruptible supply. The first reactor was started but experienced malfunctions in its safety rods, and a positive nuclear power feedback coefficient was recorded.[citation needed] After running over the Schedule by more than 8 years and more than doubling the initial budget, AECL cancelled the project in 2008 because the design was flawed.[citation needed]
Unit 1 of the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant was commissioned on December 2, 1996. Rated at 706 MWe, it currently supplies approximately 10% of Romania's electrical needs. Unit Two achieved criticality on 6 May 2007 and was connected to the national grid on 7 August. It began operating at full capacity on 12 September 2007, also producing 706 MW.
In the late 1990s, several reactors were built by AECL in South Korea. Wolsong 2 was commissioned July 1, 1997. Wolsong 3 was commissioned on July 1, 1998. Wolsong 4 was commissioned October 1, 1999. All three reactors were rated at 715MWe Gross Output. They currently have some of the highest lifetime capacity factors of nuclear reactors.
2000s
In 2001, AECL began tests at Chalk River Labs to determine the feasibility of using surplus mixed oxide fuel (MOX) from the Russian and U.S. defence programs (which contains plutonium) as a fuel in CANDU reactors.
Currently, AECL is developing the Advanced CANDU Reactor, or "ACR". This design is meant to improve the commercial CANDU 6 design in terms of capital cost and construction schedule, while maintaining the classic design and safety characteristics of the CANDU concept.
Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant Unit 2 began operation on May 6, 2007. Preparatory work required for the completion of Units 3 and 4 is scheduled to begin by the end of 2007.
Company president Robert Van Adel announced that he would be stepping down from the position of president and retired from the company effective November 11, 2007.[19]
Energy Alberta Corporation announced August 27, 2007, that they had filed application for a license to build a new nuclear plant at Lac Cardinal (30km west of the town of Peace River. The application would see an initial twin AECL Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR) plant go online in 2017, producing 2.2 gigawatt (electric).[20][21]
Point Lepreau, New Brunswick CANDU 6 plant refurbishment to begin as of April 1, 2008.
In June 2008, the Province of Ontario has announced plans to build two additional commercial reactors for electricity generation at a site next to Ontario Power Generation's Darlington Nuclear Generating Station[22] Two companies, AREVA and Westinghouse Electric Company along with AECL submitted proposals to build the reactors. In June 2009 the province announced that only AECL's ACR-1000 submission met all the proposal requirements. The Ontario government has since suspended the acquisition process citing the cost and uncertainty surrounding the companies future ownership (discussed below).[23]
Medical isotope production using the 1957-built NRU reactor experienced two forced outages due to safety concerns (December 2007)[24][25] and a heavy water leak (May 14, 2009).[26] The production from the NRU reactor represented a significant fraction of the worlds medical isotope supply and the disruptions caused a worldwide shortage. Due to maintenance requirements from the aging NRU reactor and the failure of the MAPLE 1 & 2 reactor projects, the long term production of medical isotopes at Chalk River became uncertain. The NRU reactor at Chalk River was shut down in 2018.
In the summer of 2011 SNC-Lavalin won an international bidding process for the reactor design division of the company. Prior to the acquisition, 10% of SNC Lavalin's international power workforce (400 of 4000) were engaged in the production and refurbishment of nuclear reactors. Concerns raised about the deal include a lack of commitment by SNC-Lavalin to keeping the design division intact (its size makes it more capable of providing ongoing safety support). For 2010 and 2009 combined Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd lost CA$493million.[8] Following divestiture of the reactor design division, AECL will consist of the current Nuclear Laboratories division, including the Chalk River laboratory (produces isotopes for medical imaging), and will continue to be a Crown Corporation on paper but will privatise the operation of its facilities.[27]
The CANDU is a Canadian pressurized heavy-water reactor design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its deuterium oxide moderator and its use of uranium fuel. CANDU reactors were first developed in the late 1950s and 1960s by a partnership between Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, Canadian General Electric, and other companies.
Mixed oxide fuel, commonly referred to as MOX fuel, is nuclear fuel that contains more than one oxide of fissile material, usually consisting of plutonium blended with natural uranium, reprocessed uranium, or depleted uranium. MOX fuel is an alternative to the low-enriched uranium fuel used in the light-water reactors that predominate nuclear power generation.
NRX was a heavy-water-moderated, light-water-cooled, nuclear research reactor at the Canadian Chalk River Laboratories, which came into operation in 1947 at a design power rating of 10 MW (thermal), increasing to 42 MW by 1954. At the time of its construction, it was Canada's most expensive science facility and the world's most powerful nuclear research reactor. NRX was remarkable both in terms of its heat output and the number of free neutrons it generated. When a nuclear reactor such as NRX is operating, its nuclear chain reaction generates many free neutrons. In the late 1940s, NRX was the most intense neutron source in the world.
Chalk River Laboratories is a Canadian nuclear research facility in Deep River, about 180 km (110 mi) north-west of Ottawa.
Bruce Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power station located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada. It occupies 932 ha of land. The facility derives its name from Bruce Township, the local municipality when the plant was constructed, now Kincardine due to amalgamation. With eight CANDU pressurized heavy-water reactors, it was the world's largest fully operational nuclear generating station by total reactor count and the number of currently operational reactors until 2016, when it was exceeded in nameplate capacity by South Korea's Kori Nuclear Power Plant. The station is the largest employer in Bruce County, with over 4000 workers.
Wilfrid Bennett Lewis, was a Canadian nuclear scientist and administrator, and was centrally involved in the development of the CANDU reactor.
MAPLE, short for the Multipurpose Applied Physics Lattice Experiment, later renamed MDS Medical Isotope Reactors (MMIR), was a dedicated isotope-production facility built by AECL and MDS Nordion. It included two identical reactors, I and II, as well as the isotope-processing facilities necessary to produce a large portion of the world's medical isotopes, especially molybdenum-99, medical cobalt-60, xenon-133, iodine-131 and iodine-125.
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India's premier nuclear research facility, headquartered in Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded by Homi Jehangir Bhabha as the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) in January 1954 as a multidisciplinary research program essential for India's nuclear program. It operates under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India.
The ZEEP reactor was a nuclear reactor built at the Chalk River Laboratories near Chalk River, Ontario, Canada. ZEEP first went critical at 15:45 on September 5, 1945. ZEEP was the first operational nuclear reactor outside the United States.
The National Research Universal (NRU) reactor was a 135 MW nuclear research reactor built in the Chalk River Laboratories, Ontario, one of Canada’s national science facilities. It was a multipurpose science facility that served three main roles. It generated radionuclides used to treat or diagnose over 20 million people in 80 countries every year. It was the neutron source for the NRC Canadian Neutron Beam Centre: a materials research centre that grew from the Nobel Prize-winning work of Bertram Brockhouse. It was the test bed for Atomic Energy of Canada Limited to develop fuels and materials for the CANDU reactor. At the time of its retirement on March 31, 2018, it was the world's oldest operating nuclear reactor.
The SLOWPOKE is a family of low-energy, tank-in-pool type nuclear research reactors designed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) beginning in the late 1960s. John W. Hilborn is the scientist most closely associated with their design. They are beryllium-reflected with a very low critical mass, but provide neutron fluxes higher than available from a small particle accelerator or other radioactive sources.
ZED-2 is a zero-power nuclear research reactor built at the Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario, Canada. It is the successor to the ZEEP reactor. Designed by AECL for CANDU reactor support, the unit saw first criticality on 7 September 1960. The reactor is still operating at Chalk River where it is used for reactor physics and nuclear fuel research.
The Advanced CANDU reactor (ACR), or ACR-1000, was a proposed Generation III+ nuclear reactor design, developed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). It combined features of the existing CANDU pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR) with features of light-water cooled pressurized water reactors (PWR). From CANDU, it took the heavy water moderator, which gave the design an improved neutron economy that allowed it to burn a variety of fuels. It replaced the heavy water cooling loop with one containing conventional light water, reducing costs. The name refers to its design power in the 1,000 MWe class, with the baseline around 1,200 MWe.
Nuclear Power Demonstration was the first Canadian nuclear power reactor, and the prototype for the CANDU reactor design. Built by Canadian General Electric, in partnership with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario it consisted of a single 22 MWe pressurized heavy water reactor (PHWR) unit located in Rolphton, Ontario, not far from AECL's Chalk River Laboratories. NPD was owned by AECL and operated by Ontario Hydro.
The Douglas Point Nuclear Generating Station was Canada’s first full-scale nuclear power plant and the second CANDU pressurised heavy water reactor. Its success was a major milestone and marked Canada's entry into the global nuclear power scene. The same site was later used for the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station.
Nuclear power in Canada is provided by 19 commercial reactors with a net capacity of 13.5 gigawatt (GW), producing a total of 95.6 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, which accounted for 16.6% of the country's total electric energy generation in 2015. All but one of these reactors are located in Ontario, where they produced 61% of the province's electricity in 2019. Seven smaller reactors are used for research and to produce radiopharmaceuticals for use in nuclear medicine.
The Whiteshell Reactor No. 1, or WR-1, was a Canadian research reactor located at AECL's Whiteshell Laboratories (WNRL) in Manitoba. Originally known as Organic-Cooled Deuterium-Reactor Experiment (OCDRE), it was built to test the concept of a CANDU-type reactor that replaced the heavy water coolant with an oil substance. This had a number of potential advantages in terms of cost and efficiency.
Nuclear industry in Canada is an active business and research sector, producing about 15% of its electricity in nuclear power plants of domestic design. Canada is the world's largest exporter of uranium, and has the world's second largest proven reserves. Canada also exports nuclear technology within the terms of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, to which it is a signatory, and is the world's largest producer of radioactive medical isotopes.
Candu Energy Inc. is a Canadian wholly owned subsidiary of Montreal-based AtkinsRéalis, specializing in the design and supply of nuclear reactors, as well as nuclear reactor products and services. Candu Energy Inc. was created in 2011 when parent company SNC-Lavalin purchased the commercial reactor division of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), along with the development and marketing rights to CANDU reactor technology.
The Stable Salt Reactor (SSR) is a nuclear reactor design under development by Moltex Energy Canada Inc. and its subsidiary Moltex Energy USA LLC, based in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, as well as MoltexFLEX Ltd., based in the United Kingdom.
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CA$900 million (2017)[ citation needed ]
