The CANDU system or the CANDU-PHW, stands for Canadian Deuterium Uranium- Pressurizes Heavy Water. This Canadian system uses heavy water as both coolant and moderator
What: What does the CANDU system do?
1)It uses uranium
The fuel for the CANDU systems is processed into uranium oside fuel pellets which are later produced into a solid mass of fuel bundles. These bundles can produce the equivalent heat provided by around three million tons of coal.
How: How this system works is- The most important part of a nuclear power plant is the power generation. This is established when the energy in steam is converted into the energy of rotation of the turbine shaft. This turbine shaft will then turn a generator, which produces electricity. The left-over steam then enters a condenser and is converted back into water, which is pumped back into the nuclear steam supply, where the cycle starts over again.
Advantages of the CANDU system are:
it uses natural uranium fuel
the reactor design is more efficient
very safe
Disadvantages of the CANDU system are:
the building costs are expensive
the use of heavy water (unsafe)
the spent fuel is also unsafe
Who: In the 1950s, Canadian scientists developed the CANDU reactor. The reactor is now used in three Canadian provinces and a number of other countries. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) established its first nuclear power plant division in Toronto in 1958.
Construction of the plant began in 1960 at Douglas Point on Ontario’s Chalk River. By 1967, the plant was feeding power into the Ontario power system. In 1994, 60% of Ontario’s power came from the province’s 20 nuclear reactors.
Quebec and New Brunswick are the only other provinces that use nuclear power. Each province has one CANDU reactor plant. Other countries in the world also use the CANDU, and more are being built. AECL sold one CANDU to Argentina in 1973 and one to South Korea in 1976. The Korea Electric Power Corporation is now installing three more CANDUs, which should be running by 1999.
Two more CANDU reactors are also being installed in Romania. By creating the CANDU reactor, Canadian scientists have made a significant contribution to the world’s nuclear technology. AECL says it is the safety features and efficient design of the CANDU that has attracted other countries to use the Canadian-made reactor.
The fuel bundles are placed into the CANDU reactor vessel. Inside the reactor vessel, the hot fission reaction is cooled by heavy water called deuterium oxide This is where the Canadian-made reactor gets its name: Canadian Deuterium Uranium.
