AECL issues $15 million in contracts to Canadian manufacturers

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) has signed contracts with 18 Canadian manufacturers to build components for its Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR-1000) to ready the reactor design for domestic and international sale. Contracts issued total nearly $15 million.

Schematic Diagram of a CANDU reactor. The primary loop is in yellow and orange, the secondary in blue and red. The heavy water in the calandria is pink, along with partially-inserted shutoff rods.

A Conference Board of Canada study estimates that if AECL and its Team CANDU partners were to build four reactors here in Canada and a further eight internationally, it would generate close to 500,000 person-years of new jobs.

The CANDU qualified manufacturers working on the ACR-1000 component qualification include Nu-Tech Precision Metals of Arnprior, Ontario, who will manufacture a series of seamless CANDU calandria tubes and B.C. Instruments of Schomberg, Ontario, who are producing feeder connections.

Other suppliers include Sulzer Pumps Canada Inc. of Burnaby, B.C., and Contro Valve Inc. of Brossard, Quebec. AECL’s supply chain totals almost 700 companies, including the 120 members of the Organization of CANDU Industries.

The ACR-1000 is Atomic Energy of Canada’s evolutionary, Gen III+, 1200MW e-class pressure tube reactor. It is a light water cooled, heavy water moderated pressure tube reactor with a modular, horizontal fuel channel core; a low-temperature heavy water moderator, water-filled vault, two independent diverse shutdown systems, on-power fuelling, simple fuel design and reactor building accessibility for on-power maintenance.
www.aecl.ca