Top-rated performance and safety
AECL’s CANDU 6 (700+ MW class) reactors are operated in five countries on four continents by six different utility customers and have outstanding performance track records. In terms of average lifetime capacity factor, the single most important measure of reactor performance, the CANDU 6 fleet, at nearly 88 percent, ranks well ahead of our closest competition in the international marketplace.

These, the French and US Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) fleets, each average less than 75 percent. In 2002, the top three CANDU 6 units actually achieved an average 97.1 percent capacity factor.

In Korea, where every nuclear plant is operated by the same company using standardized practices and processes, the lifetime capacity factor for the CANDU fleet is 92.2 percent compared to 88.5 percent for their PWR fleet.

In China, CANDUs have an average lifetime capacity factor of 89 percent compared to about 80 percent for PWRs, which include Areva’s units at Daya Bay and Ling’ao.

CANDU 6 has already been licensed by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and is considered to be among the safest reactors in the world. CANDU 6 or single unit equivalents of the 900 MWe Darlington are a proven, safe, clean, reliable and affordable solution that is ready to fill Ontario’s looming electricity supply gap in the shortest possible timeframe. The forthcoming Advanced CANDU 1000 MWe class Reactor (ACR) will have even more attractive features as part of the ongoing CANDU evolutionary design process.

Prompt construction – on time and on budget
AECL has designed, built and delivered six CANDU 6 reactors overseas in the last nine years – all on or ahead of schedule and on budget. In fact, the first unit in China took only 54 months from first concrete to in-service, making it a record for power reactors built in that country.

Qinshan I CANDU in Zhejiang Province, China was completed in a record 54 months.

Local and national economic benefits
Nuclear energy in Canada is a $5 billion/year industry, providing employment for more than 30,000 people in more than 150 companies.

The American option
The new designs offered by Westinghouse or General Electric are still on the drawing board and the industry that makes the components for their reactors has withered away due to lack of an ongoing program.

Unlike AECL, neither company has traditionally provided a turnkey contract approach to their projects thus putting more risk on to the owner.

Neither designs have been licensed in Canada and the Canadian regulator has no experience with the details. Licensing would, therefore, be a long and drawn out affair.

Similarly, the Canadian utilities have no experience with these designs and would have to spend time and money to become knowledgeable and to train operating and maintenance staff.

Canada has no industrial experience with these designs and the likelihood is that most of the equipment would come from outside of the country.

The French option
AREVA is a vertically integrated nuclear power company owned by the French government. French technology is not licensed in Ontario. The fact that it doesn’t have passive safety systems makes it less attractive for Canada (all CANDUs have numerous passive safety systems, even more so for advanced CANDUs).

The French are ready to take advantage of the open door in Canada but do not allow foreign companies to bid on new nuclear plants in France. Clearly this is an unfair trade practice.

The history of the project construction performance of the French has been, at best, spotty. Their offshore projects do not have a laudable track record, unlike AECL’s record of on-time, on-budget performance.

The French design is not ‘advanced’ – it is simply an updated version of existing reactor types in Germany and France.

Additional system security costs
The Ontario electrical grid has been established to handle the size of power plants currently on the system. Reserve capacity (capacity that is over and above the normal demand on the grid) is determined, to a large extent, by the size of the largest unit on the grid since the grid must be able to provide that capacity should a unit go off line unexpectedly. Both the French and the General Electric reactors are rated around 1500 to1600 MW and both would be the single-largest generating station on the Ontario grid, thus requiring the province to pay for almost 1000 MW of additional reserve capacity as backup in case the large reactor went out of service.

The solution
Ontario needs to implement every possible conservation measure and install all possible renewable energy supply options. Even then, we will still be facing a looming gap in baseload supply of electricity that has serious economic implications for business and residents. CANDU is a key part of the future solution.

We need to immediately begin a full environmental assessment of the CANDU option and the suitable sites across the province.

AECL has already declared its interest in working with its private sector partners and shareholder (the government of Canada) to design, build, finance and operate new CANDU plants here in Ontario.

We are confident our superior performing technology, combined with our proven ‘on-time, on-budget’ track record and the economic benefits to Canada, will make the CANDU option the obvious choice for meeting Ontario’s future electricity needs.

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