Scribd
Upload
98 views10 pages

CANDU

The CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) reactor uses heavy water as both its coolant and moderator. It is designed to use natural unenriched uranium fuel and allows for on-power refueling. Key features include heavy water moderation, pressure tube design separating moderator and coolant, and high resource utilization of uranium. The primary system consists of individual fuel channels containing zircaloy-clad fuel bundles cooled by pressurized heavy water. The calandria vessel holds the moderator and is penetrated by the fuel channels. Two fuelling machines allow for on-power refueling from the control room.

Uploaded by

Vishal Meena
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
98 views10 pages

CANDU

The CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) reactor uses heavy water as both its coolant and moderator. It is designed to use natural unenriched uranium fuel and allows for on-power refueling. Key features include heavy water moderation, pressure tube design separating moderator and coolant, and high resource utilization of uranium. The primary system consists of individual fuel channels containing zircaloy-clad fuel bundles cooled by pressurized heavy water. The calandria vessel holds the moderator and is penetrated by the fuel channels. Two fuelling machines allow for on-power refueling from the control room.

Uploaded by

Vishal Meena
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 10

Heavy Water Cooled Reactors

(CANDU)
Key CANDU Features
CANada Deuterium Uranium
Designed for natural uranium fuel (no enrichment
needed)
Heavy water (D2O) moderated
Pressure tube reactor (no pressure vessel) Moderator
& coolant separated
Pressurized coolant and steam generators (similar to
PWR)
On-power refuelling
High resource utilization (150 tons mined uranium per
GWeyr, compared to 200 tons mined U per GWeyr for a
typical PWR)
Source: Jeremy Whitlock, AECL Chalk River Labs,
4/16/07
CANDU STATION
OVERVIEW

Power cycle similar to PWR and BWR


© source unknown. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.
edu/fairuse.
CANDU PRIMARY SYSTEM
Natural uranium fuel and D2O
moderator
Fuel contained in individual fuel
channels (pressure tubes) filled with
high pressure (>10 MPa) and high
temperature (~300 C) D2O coolant
Pressure tubes contained in a large
cylindrical tank (calandria) filled with
low pressure (<1 MPa) and low
temperature (<80 C) D2O moderator
Fuel
of Zrclad and pressure tubes are made
alloys 1 Main Steam Pipes
2 Pressurizer
Fuelling machines connect to Steam 3
4
Steam Generators
Heat Transport Pumps
Feedwater
individual pressure tubes for refuelling 5
6
Headers
Calandria
Heavy Water Coolant
Conventional turbine/generator and Heavy Water Moderator
7
8
Fuel
Moderator Pumps
auxiliary systems 9
10
Moderator Heat Exchangers
Fuelling Machines
CANDU FUEL BUNDLES
UO2 pellets in Zircaloy cladding (0.38 mm thick)
28 or 37 pins form a fuel bundle (pins have a 13.08 mm outside
diameter) Pins held together by end plates.
Pins separated by spacers. Outer pins have bearing pads. Bundles:
495.3 mm long and 102.5 mm in diameter Average burnup: 7500-8500
MWd/ton)

Public domain image from Wikipedia.


Image courtesy of Atomic Energy of Canada
Limited.
PRESSURE TUBES (OR FUEL CHANNELS)
Each fuel channel consists of a
pressure tube and two end-fittings
(primary pressure boundary), plus a
calandria tube
Pressure tube - calandria tube
separated by a gas-filled annulus;
gap maintained by “garter” springs
Low neutron cross section
Total channel length: 11.56 m (~6
m fuelled)

Calandria Tube

Fuel

Pressure Tube

.
CALANDRIA ASSEMBLY
Holds the heavy water moderator
Penetrated horizontally by pressure tubes,
and
d vertically
i ll b i ibydreactivity
i devices
380-480 horizontal pressure tubes
12 or 13 fuel bundles per pressure tube
Not a pressure vessel
REPRESENTATIVE PARAMETERS FOR
ADVANCED CANDU (ACR-700)
Parameter Value

Thermal power (MWth) 1980


Gross electric power (nominal) (MWe) 731
Reactor pressure (MPa) 12.6

Nominal coolant inlet temperature (oC) 279


Nominal coolant outlet temperature 325
(oC)
Nominal moderator temperature (oC) 74
Length of fuel bundle (mm) 495.3
Core length (mm) 5940
Number of bundles per fuel channel 12
Number of fuel channels (Pressure 284
tubes)
Pressure tube inner radius (mm) 51.689
Pressure tube outer radius (mm) 58.169

Number of fuel elements per channel 43


Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.
Pressure tube lattice pitch (mm) 220
FUELLING MACHINES
Two fuelling machines operate
simultaneously accepting or loading
fuel
Remotely operated from control room

© source unknown. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our
Creative Commons license. For more information, see http://
ocw.mit.edu/fairuse
TWO FAST-ACTING SHUTDOWN SYSTEMS

You might also like