Following the collapse of its partnership with Dominion to study the feasibility of building a Canadian-designed ACR-700 (Advanced Candu Reactor) in the US, AECL Technologies says it still intends to pursue the design application.
AECL Technologies, a subsidiary of Atomic Energy of Canada, was part of a consortium that also included Bechtel and Hitachi America. The consortium was seeking Department of Energy (DOE) funding for half of the 500 million US dollars (USD) (about 382 million euros) cost of the feasibility study, which would have used Dominion’s North Anna nuclear power plant site in Virginia as the reference site.
But on 14th January 2005 Dominion announced it was dissolving its partnership with AECL Technologies and would shift the project to a partnership with General Electric (GE) that would propose using GE’s Economic and Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR).
AECL Technologies told NucNet it had not given up its effort to certify the ACR-700 in the US. “We intend to continue the pursuit of design certification of the ACR-700 on a more measured basis while reassessing the US market,” said company president John Polcyn.
Dominion spokesman Rick Zuercher told NucNet that the company’s main concern was how long the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) would take to licence a Canadian reactor. Because no Candu reactor has yet been licensed in the US, the NRC indicated there were significant issues to be resolved, Mr Zuercher said.
Dominion expects the funding proposal to the DOE to remain much the same with GE as it was with AECL Technologies. The consortium is asking the DOE to pick up half the USD 500 million cost over six years. Of the remaining USD 250 million, Dominion will provide up to USD 61 million, and GE, like AECL Technologies, will be expected to provide “the lion’s share”, Mr Zuercher said.
GE is currently holding pre-application discussions with the NRC on certification of the ESBWR and expects a decision in 2007.
With the Dominion agreement, GE became a partner in all three of the consortia seeking to license a new US power reactor as part of the DOE’s Nuclear Power 2010 programme [see NucNet Feature No. 2, 21st May 2004]. The NuStart consortium is considering GE’s ESBWR, along with the Westinghouse Advanced Passive 1000 (AP 1000). The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) consortium is considering the GE-Toshiba Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR), of which three are operating in Japan and several more are under construction in Asia.
