CANDU: Canada’s Ingenious but Doomed Nuclear Super Reactor

At 3:45 PM on September 5, 1945, history was made at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario as the Zero Energy Experimental Pile or ZEEP achieved criticality for the first time. In that moment, Canada entered the nuclear age - only the second country after the United States to do so. While rarely thought of as a leader in nuclear technology, Canada has long punched above its weight. During the Second World War, uranium from Canadian mines fuelled the first atomic bombs, while many Canadian scientists like Dr. Louis Slotin were intimately involved in the Manhattan Project. After the war, Dr. Harold Johns of the University of Saskatchewan developed cobalt therapy for the treatment of cancer, making Canada a world leader in the production and use of medical isotopes. But perhaps Canada’s greatest achievement in the nuclear field is the CANDU, a highly-innovative nuclear reactor that ranks among the safest and most economical in the world. When first introduced in the late 1960s, CANDU seemed poised to revolutionize the nuclear power industry, but due to various political and economic factors only a handful of units were ever built. In this era of looming climate catastrophe, where nuclear power looks to be the only viable means of producing clean, reliable electricity, it is worth asking: what made the CANDU so special, and why did it fail to catch on? This is the fascinating story of Canada's forgotten super-reactor.

Author: Gilles Messier
Editor: Daven Hiskey
Host: Simon Whistler
Producer: Samuel Avila

This video is #sponsored by CyberGhost VPN.

[Rabbitrey]

Ontario is already looking to build 8 more CANDU reactors, I don’t think it’s at all doomed or forgotten

[Hathur]

Forgotten? Huh? I live in Ontario, about 1/2 our province's power comes from CANDU reactors, followed by Hydro. We are an energy giant here.

[dodaexploda]

So now that I've watched the video, I'll add more to my previous comment. The CANDU absolutely improved during refurbishment. They get a life extension, higher output, and higher capacity factors. So some reactors have gone from 800 MW to 880MW. I believe the IAEA currently has one of the reactors at over 100% capacity factor because it was rated at 800 MW still. What the refurbs have done the most is revitalized our industry. As were refurbing ALL of the CANDUs in Ontario we are getting them done on tme and below estimate. This is giving a lot of confience in making more. This is where the CANDU Monark comes in, being the next version at 1000 MW. Also there is the CANDU owners group. All of the countries and agencies that own and operate CANDUs work together to make them all better. Things are actually looking pretty good right now for the CANDU reactor. Also, SMRs have their place but they are looking problematic. They look to have cheaper build costs in exchange for more expensive operating costs. This is the same lesson that was learned in the 60s-80s, economics of scale definitely make sense in nuclear. The bigger you can make your reactor the cheaper it runs. This is why Ontario is looking to build 8 more reactors, and very likely a lot more than that.

[IanPattisonOakville]

Forgotten? I live in Ontario, Canada where a full third of our electricity is generated in CANDU reactors.

[icefire]

I'm Canadian and live just North and between both Pickering and Darlington reactors. I noticed you forgot to mention that we sell a large excess of or clean Nuclear energy to the Northern U.S.A. and Ontario's increasing energy efficiency laws over the last 30 years have kept our provinces energy needs constant. It is only recently with power usage increasing in tech that has caused this expansion of power generation. I have friends that work at both reactors in various fields and from what I understand those mini Candu reactors are almost ready for deployment. Nice to see a story on something so close to home.

[sandybarnes]

Doomed? As a Canadian, I must protest the incorrect title.

[PhanieDaemonia]

A 2.85 BILION dollars contract was just signed with Romania for the maintenance/expansion of their CANDU reactor... Definitely far from dead yet :-)

[bellshooter]

I worked as QC inspector on the Ontario Hydro Candu units, in Germany in 1978/9, they procured nuclear grade primary and secondary heat exchanger tubing. These were very high quality nimonic (Nickel iron ) stainless steel and titanium tubing from VDG a major Duisburg supplier. We were tasked with using cutting edge non-destructive testing, ultrasonics and magnetic field defektomat tube scanners, to assure tube quality. Disturbingly the batches we rejected were re-tested to lower standards for Indian Candu installations.

[whytejeebus]

Listening to Simon pronounce Saskatchewan made my day.

[Kromm]

Former AECL, CANDU engineer here; this design is doing well we will see more units soon.

In Alberta, private power groups are looking at CANDU 6E units as well as the CANDU-SMR units in various parts of our grid, including oilsands mining operations.

Btw- accurate technical details; well done.

[genesisdominus]

So, my conclusion is that CANDU technology has all the advantages that RBMK reactors could have over enriched uranium technology, while being much safer to operate. Well done, Canadians!

[RatKindler]

I'm currently looking at a photo of myself in front of the calandria of reactor #4 of the Darlington nuclear power plant in Ontario, that is hanging on my living room wall as I watch this video. It was taken about a month before it went online in the 90s. Thanks for the interesting video.

[plasmajab]

CANDU dead? I live in chalk river (one of 1000 people living here) and I can tell you, its far from dead. And we generate so much power we have to sell it at a discount to the US.

[bobmarefka]

Three Mile Island is a Babcock & Wilcox Pressurized Water Reactor. It’s not a Boiling Water Reactor.

Great video, love the series.

[matthewschilling]

Maybe I'm biased, but to my understanding, the CANDU reactor is one of the most reliable and safe reactors you can get, far away from doomed, and many expansions around Canada and the world

[maxheadrom]

The Uranium used in the first atomic bomb came from Canada, Congo and the US. Also Canada has been punching above its weight in so many fields and for so long that I think perhaps we're wrong about its weight.

[mtndogrally]

As a Canadian that was taught in school about the awesomeness of the CANDU since as long as I can remember... For example, a Chernobyl style accident is physically impossible with a CANDU design. I've wondered for a long time now why they haven't been working out and why other countries never picked up on them.

[Victoria-dhvb]

As a Canadian, (with friends that work at Bruce power funnily enough), I had a giggle at the pronunciation of "Lake Huron" and "Kincardine".

As per the tradition of the motherland, we have a flagrant disregard for what letters may, or may not, be contained within a place name.

Oh Simon, you did your best. A for effort.

[craigquann]

Lol. I don't think most people realize that Canada isn't a nuclear power by choice. We are a global leader in nuclear power. In fact Ontario generates 60% of its electricity with nuclear and plans to expand on that.

[adamb]

Great vid, appreciate the efforts to popularize this tech. We are so fortunate in Canada to not only have huge amounts of hydroelectric energy, but our beautiful CANDU reactors as well