7 Apr (NucNet): Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) has dropped any immediate plans to build nuclear reactors in the UK as the nuclear industry in its home market takes off, the state-run company has announced.
AECL said it has told the UK’s nuclear regulators it is suspending participation of its advanced Candu reactor design in the UK’s generic design assessment (GDA), but may re-enter at a later date.
The regulators – the Health and Safety Executive and the Environment Agency – announced in March that the ACR-1000 reactor unit had passed initial tests as part of the GDA and was eligible to proceed to the next stage.
“The nuclear renaissance has taken hold in Canada as several Canadian provinces are currently considering the ACR-1000 as the technology-of-choice for the next generation nuclear technology,” said AECL’s president and chief executive officer Hugh MacDiarmid. “We believe very strongly that our best course of action to ensure the ACR-1000 is successful in the global market place is to focus first and foremost on establishing it here at home.”
The three designs remaining in the GDA process are Areva and EDF’s European Pressurised Water Reactor; GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy’s Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR); and Westinghouse Electric Company’s AP1000.
In January 2008, the UK government gave the go-ahead for the possible construction of a new generation of nuclear power plants in the UK.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
Energy Giants Prepare For UK New Build (News No. 127, 23 May 2007)
UK Gives Green Light To New Nuclear Plants (News No. 3, 10 January 2008)
All Four Reactor Designs Pass Initial Tests, Say UK Regulators (News No. 20, 18 March 2008)
