Advanced CANDU Reactor

Advanced CANDU Reactor

The advanced CANDU reactor (ACR) is a Generation III+ nuclear reactor design and is a further development of existing CANDU reactors designed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. The ACR is a light-water-cooled reactor that incorporates features of both Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) and advanced pressurized water reactors (APWR) technologies. It uses a similar design concept to the steam-generating heavy water reactor (SGHWR).

The design uses lightly enriched uranium (LEU) fuel, ordinary (light) water coolant, and a separate heavy water moderator. The reactivity regulating and safety devices are located within the low pressure moderator. The ACR also incorporates characteristics of the CANDU design, including on-power refueling with the CANFLEX fuel; a long prompt neutron lifetime; small reactivity holdup; two fast, totally independent, dedicated safety shutdown systems; and an emergency core cooling system (although all generation 2, 3, and 3+ designs have this feature). The compact reactor core reduces core size by half for the same power output over the older design.

The fuel bundle is a variant of the 43-element CANFLEX design (CANFLEX-ACR). The use of LEU fuel with a neutron absorbing centre element allows the reduction of coolant void reactivity coefficient to a nominally small, negative value. It also results in higher burnup operation than traditional CANDU designs.

The current size for the ACR-1000 is approximately 1200MWe. According to the AECL website, the ACR-1000 is planned to be in service by 2016.

The reactors are intended for use in nuclear power plants to produce nuclear power from nuclear fuel.