Agreement between AECL and CNSC signed April 8

Mississauga, 2008 April 11 — Atomic Energy of Canada Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for pre-project design review activities on the ACR-1000. Work will commence this month and will be guided by an agreed-upon schedule between the two organizations.

Initial activities will include the review of the Generic Safety Case Report that provides comprehensive information on the ACR-1000 design and safety analysis.

“We are very pleased that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has agreed to the pre-project design review of the ACR-1000,” says AECL President and CEO Hugh MacDiarmid.  “The Advanced CANDU is our flagship product and although it is well along in its engineering process in terms of market readiness, the pre-project design review greatly enhances the certainty of our schedule leading to the follow-up licensing process for construction of ACR-1000 plants in Canada”

About the ACR-1000

The ACR-1000 is Atomic Energy of Canada’s evolutionary, Gen III+*, 1200 MWe class pressure tube reactor.    It is a light water cooled, heavy water moderated pressure tube reactor derived from the well-established CANDU line. 

The ACR-1000 retains the basic, well-proven, features of the CANDU® plant design such as a modular, horizontal fuel channel core, a low-temperature heavy-water moderator, water-filled vault, two independent diverse shutdown systems, on-power fuelling and reactor building accessibility for on-power maintenance.

* Gen III+ is the classification given to nuclear technologies by an international team, including Canada, that is collaborating on the research to develop the next generation, Gen IV reactors.  ACR-1000 is one of the technologies that are considered as a Generation III+ design.

About AECL

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited is a full service nuclear technology company providing services to nuclear utilities around the world. Established in 1952, AECL is the designer and builder of CANDU technology including the ACR-1000 and the CANDU 6, one of the world’s top-performing reactors. AECL is actively developing CANDU markets in Romania, Argentina as well as other international markets. AECL's 4,800 employees deliver cutting edge nuclear services, R&D support, design, and engineering, construction management, specialized technology, refurbishment, waste management and decommissioning in support of CANDU reactor products. More information on AECL and CANDU technology can be found at www.aecl.ca.

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Contact Information:
Robin Forbes
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
905-302-5828