Advanced reactor would boost UK industry

At least 80% of Candu solution to be supplied by local firms

A new type of reactor design that could help the UK deal with its stockpile of plutonium would be 80% built by local companies and provide up to 12,000 jobs, it has been claimed.

Canadian firm Candu is proposing the construction of four Enhanced Candu 6 (EC6) Generation III reactors as a means of providing a lifecycle solution for 140 tonnes of civil separated plutonium. The technology would see plutonium mixed with depleted uranium and fabricated into specific fuel pellets which could be processed to provide up to 3GWe of low carbon power over 30 years.

Certain specific characteristics of the EC6 reactor lends itself to more localised supply chains, said Candu. Instead of featuring a large pressure-vessel, as typically seen in pressurised water reactors, the EC6 uses pressure tubes, which are easier to fabricate. Only a handful of global suppliers are qualified to produce large pressure-vessels, whereas pressure tubes can be more easily sourced.

Michael Soulard, EC6 project director for Candu, said: “We are committed to localised production for these reactors. Indeed, up to 80% of a new reactor could be made by the local supply chain.”

Candu said that a recent assessment of UK industrial capability indicated that EC6 reactors could create 12,000 direct and supply chain jobs during construction, and a further 1,500 to 2,000 full-time operational staff.

The Candu EC6 reactor has been identified by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) as one of three possible technologies for the management of separated plutonium. It is also looking at reuse as mixed oxide fuel in light water reactors, and reuse in GE's Prism fast reactor.

The NDA has spent the past 12 months evaluating each technology and is expected to announce a preferred solution by the end of this year. That would trigger a regulatory assessment through the GDA followed by preliminary engineering, licensing and procurement. A final decision would then be expected in 2018, leading to actual construction of the reactors.

Soulard said that the EC6 reactor was a proven technology that would offer a safe, affordable solution for civil plutonium disposal. “We believe we have a real proposition here,” he said.

As well as in the UK, Candu is looking at building the reactor in China, Romania and Argentina.