John Spears
Toronto Star
November 6, 2004

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and its partners are proposing to build a new-design nuclear plant in Virginia and expect to receive up to $250 million (U.S.) in funding from the U.S. government, AECL chief executive Robert Van Adel says.

The money will help fund the consortium as it moves through a five- to six-year process to license the AECL technology in the United States, Van Adel said in an interview.

The AECL group, led by Dominion Resources Inc. and including Bechtel Power Corp. and Hitachi America Inc., has been selected as one of two that will go through the U.S. licensing process.

The U.S. announcement should encourage Ontario to move forward in its examination of the new technology, Van Adel added. AECL has proposed building as many as eight new reactors in Ontario to replace the province’s aging nuclear plants.

Yesterday, however, he was focusing on the U.S. development.

"It’s, in our view, a huge win for us in the sense that we’ve established ourselves as the leading next-generation technology in North America," he said.

AECL’s new design is called the Advanced Candu Reactor, or ACR-700. The 700-megawatt units, bigger than the 515-megawatt ones at the Pickering nuclear station, but smaller than the units at the Darlington and Bruce nuclear stations, are designed to be built in pairs.

"The fact that we’ve been selected in the U.S. will, I believe, have a huge impact on markets like China and other markets around the world, including Europe," Van Adel said.

The government money will help fund site design, environmental studies and regulatory expenses.

"The numbers are obviously under discussion," Van Adel said. The forecast contribution from the U.S. government, however, is in the order of $250 million (U.S.), with another $80 million to $85 million from "partners and others."

It’s a "very substantial contribution to the launch of our technology in the U.S," Van Adel added.

"It shows the level of commitment the U.S. government has to driving forward with the rebuilding of their nuclear fleet."

Canada’s federal government has contributed about $85 million to date toward funding ACR development.

"I would argue this development in the U.S. should provide even greater confidence in the Ontario government that Candu technology is a world leader and has met all the tests in the toughest market in the world, the most competitive market," he said.

AECL currently has about 300 scientists and engineers working on the ACR project, and the U.S. development means another 100 will probably be added to the team, Van Adel said.

Tom Adams of Energy Probe said in an interview U.S. regulators have been reluctant to license AECL reactors because of a design feature that could lead to a reactor speeding up if one suddenly loses coolant. Reactors in use in the United States slow down on losing coolant.

AECL has maintained its reactors are safe, and are designed with multiple shutdown systems.

The new-style ACR, which uses a slightly different fuel from traditional Candu designs, should avoid the problem of a reactor speed-up in the event of a coolant loss, according to an article posted on AECL’s website.

Persuading U.S. regulators that AECL’s new reactor deals with the concerns is a hurdle AECL and its partners must overcome, Adams said.

AECL says it hopes to have permission to start construction of a proposed nuclear station in Virginia by 2009.