Montreal: October 31, 2024 – Candu Energy Inc., an AtkinsRéalis company [AtkinsRéalis Group Inc.] (TSX: ATRL) and original equipment manufacturer of CANDU® technology, announces it is entering into a special project with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), to develop a plan for a Pre-Licensing Design Review of the new CANDU MONARK™ reactor’s suitability to be licensed and built in Canada.
“Reactor development is a key differentiator for us as we have the exclusive license to deploy one of only a few large reactor technologies available worldwide, and so we have extensive experience navigating the nuclear licensing process in Canada,” said Joe St. Julian, President, Nuclear, AtkinsRéalis. “As the world enters a nuclear market super cycle with estimated demand for 1,000 new reactor builds, we remain on track to complete the CANDU MONARK’s design by 2027, positioning the first CANDU MONARK new build to begin as early as 2029 and be completed by the mid-2030s.”
This special project marks an important milestone since the CANDU MONARK reactor’s launch in 20231, by familiarizing CNSC staff with the CANDU MONARK design and allowing them to provide feedback on what will be needed in a future Pre-Licensing Design Review. AtkinsRéalis has around 300 staff working on the design.2 The conceptual design phase of the CANDU MONARK reactor was completed in September 2024, allowing AtkinsRéalis to confirm the nature of the work required to complete the preliminary engineering by 2027.
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Pre-Licensing Design Review
Nuclear power vendors that seek to have a reactor built in Canada can complete a Vendor Design Review (VDR) with the CNSC. While not mandatory, the VDR is a mechanism that enables CNSC staff to provide feedback to a vendor early in the design to verify at a high level that Canadian nuclear regulatory requirements and expectations, as well as Canadian codes and standards, will be met. A VDR also serves to identify, and potentially resolve, any fundamental barriers to licensing for a new design in Canada. An application for a VDR is not an application for any type of license issued by the CNSC. Such an application is made by a purchasing utility. AtkinsRéalis believes completion of a VDR is an added measure that offers predictability to a purchasing utility.
A typical VDR includes three phases.3 Since the CANDU MONARK’s design heavily leverages the platform of past CANDU reactor models which have fully completed all three phases of the CNSC’s VDR, as well as those that have been licensed and built, AtkinsRéalis has asked the CNSC to consider two possible types of Pre-Licensing Design Review: either a VDR, or a preliminary regulatory design assessment.
With the special project between AtkinsRéalis and the CNSC, a group of experts at the CNSC will develop a schedule and estimate for both a VDR and a preliminary regulatory design assessment. The exchange of information in this first special project will allow the estimates to reflect the impact of the range of improvements and modernizations made to CANDU MONARK technology, their variance to past CANDU designs that have already gone through all three VDR phases, and any change to regulatory requirements and expectations that may be relevant.
AtkinsRéalis will then be able to evaluate which of these pathways will be most suitable in supporting the CANDU MONARK design program, with the goal of seeking rigorous review and feedback on the CANDU MONARK’s design in support of ensuring that any eventual CANDU MONARK new build project can be undertaken with confidence in the licensing costs and timeline.
To this day, CANDU reactors are the only designs to have completed all three phases of the CNSC’s VDR. It remains the only operating power reactor technology in Canada, with 18 reactors operating across the country.
About AtkinsRéalis
Created by the integration of long-standing organizations dating back to 1911, AtkinsRéalis is a world-class engineering services and nuclear company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world's infrastructure and energy systems. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital. The breadth and depth of our capabilities are delivered to clients in strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear and Capital. News and information are available at www.atkinsrealis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
About AtkinsRéalis’ Nuclear Business
AtkinsRéalis has over 70 years of global nuclear expertise, delivering nuclear technology products and full-service solutions to nuclear utilities around the world. AtkinsRéalis is the steward of CANDU® nuclear technology, operating on four continents, and provides advisory and engineering services to other nuclear developers. With an innovative technology portfolio, including access to over 500 patented solutions, AtkinsRéalis solves technically complex challenges across the whole nuclear lifecycle from design and new build through asset management and from life extension and late life management through decommissioning and waste management. AtkinsRéalis operates and manages government nuclear research sites, transforming ageing infrastructure and safely managing legacy nuclear waste. AtkinsRéalis’ CANDU technology also allows for the co-production of medical radioisotopes for cancer detection and treatment. The company also supports cancer treatment through its partnership with TerraPower to extract isotopes from legacy nuclear material. Learn more on our Nuclear market page.
1 AtkinsRéalis, https://www.atkinsrealis.com/en/media/press-releases/2023/28-11-2023
2 AtkinsRéalis data
3 Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, https://www.cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca/eng/reactors/power-plants/pre-licensing-vendor-design-review/
BACKGROUND
CANDU MONARK: Helping Engineer a Better Future
Following the launch of the CANDU MONARK design last year, AtkinsRéalis has subsequently released numerous pieces of related news. These include:
- Publication of an independent jobs report conducted by the Conference Board of Canada.4
- Launching the Canadians for CANDU campaign.5
- Entered into an MOU with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL).6
- Teaming up to evaluate and select heavy-water production technologies to support the deployment of a new fleet of CANDU reactors.7
With 34 reactors built on four continents, CANDU technology is proven, low-cost and has a decades-long global track record of on time and on budget performance. The heavy water reactor technology also has some of the highest capacity factors, composed of reliability and “up-time”, of all reactors in the world. Further features of the CANDU MONARK include:
- Cost-Effective at Scale to Displace High Emissions Energy Sources: Building on the commercial success of the CANDU models currently in operation, and decades of design development since, the CANDU MONARK reactor offers an economically attractive, domestic full-scale product to utilities looking to deploy new nuclear power at scale. Featuring a larger output of 1,000 MW, improved cost per megawatt-hour, a longer operating life of 70+ years, sustainable design principles to minimize environmental impact, the latest in robotics, predictive maintenance and high integration with flexible electricity grids of the future; CANDU MONARK technology is designed to leverage the latest engineering techniques, including full interoperability with digital twin technology to reduce costs for construction, operation, and maintenance. It is the easiest reactor design to build, operate and maintain in AtkinsRéalis’ CANDU nuclear portfolio.
- Simplified Construction: The CANDU MONARK’s composition has been designed with maintenance in mind, while incorporating a module-based construction strategy that reduces the time to construct from previous generations of CANDU technology. When combined with the enhanced control afforded by digital delivery concepts, the CANDU MONARK will be constructed faster and with lower risk.
- Energy Security: The CANDU MONARK reactor leverages the existing strengths of the proven CANDU design, operating around the world with some of the highest fuel efficiencies and lifetime capacity factors among any reactor technology in the world. This includes using natural uranium as a fuel source (which can be produced domestically in the reactor’s host country), on-power refuelling, and online maintenance. Like other CANDU reactors, the fuel flexibility of CANDU MONARK technology also allows it to safely use other fuel sources with minimal adjustments; including recycled uranium, thorium and mixed oxide fuels. Existing CANDU units have already leveraged this capability, proving a natural uranium equivalent to be successful.
- Net Zero Integration: Producing decarbonized power without emissions, a pair of CANDU MONARK reactors would remove over 17 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year when displacing traditional coal. With its footprint and flexible siting requirements, CANDU MONARK reactors can also be situated on existing fossil fuel power plant sites, where transmission and distribution lines already exist, for easy integration into an energy grid.
- Cancer-Fighting Isotopes: The CANDU MONARK reactor will continue the ability of CANDU technology to produce medical grade life-saving isotopes to sterilize medical equipment worldwide, and for use in both fighting and researching cancer. Ontario’s CANDU reactors produce 50% of the world’s supply of the Cobalt-60 isotope.
- Hydrogen Production: Deployment of nuclear power will form just one aspect of a future diversified energy grid. As part of its future-thinking design, the CANDU MONARK reactor can integrate a hydrogen production plant and storage facility into a nuclear station it resides in, as well as use surplus heat from the plant to make hydrogen generation more efficient.
- Domestic Technology for Economic Growth: The supply chain for existing CANDU technology consists of over 250 companies and 76,000 employees. With this supply chain already growing, investments in building, operating, and maintaining CANDU MONARK reactors in Canada, as well as key export opportunities for them internationally, will not only sustain but increase job opportunities for well-paying, strategic roles in the Canadian economy. This includes engineers, scientists, manufacturers and constructors across Canada for generations to come.
- World Class Safety Standards: Like all CANDU reactors in operation, which have been upgraded to deploy the latest innovations in safety technology, CANDU MONARK reactors have comprehensive “defence in depth” systems to de-risk even the most unlikely scenarios. It contains two independent, equally effective systems that can shut down the reactor. Both systems work without power, and without the need for operator intervention.
4 AtkinsRéalis, https://www.atkinsrealis.com/en/media/trade-releases/2024/21-06-2024
5 AtkinsRéalis, https://www.atkinsrealis.com/en/media/press-releases/2024/28-02-2024
6 AtkinsRéalis, https://www.atkinsrealis.com/en/media/press-releases/2024/2024-02-22
7 AtkinsRéalis, https://www.atkinsrealis.com/en/media/press-releases/2024/2024-05-13...
Read the full news release here
