CANDU

U REACT
TOR
The CAN NDU, for Caanada Deuterrium Uranium m, is a Canaadian-developped, pressuriized heavy w
water
reactor ussed to generrate electric power. The acronym reffers to its deeuterium oxide (heavy w water)
moderatorr and its use of
o (originally,, natural) uran
nium fuel.

Basic design and opperation

Som
me basics
s
1. Fuel bundle • a ffuel such as U
U-235
2. Calandria
C •am moderator too thermalize (i.e.
3. Adjuster
A rodss • a ccoolant to rem
move the heeat
4. Heavy
H water ( pressure reeservoir ) • a ccontrol systeem to controol the numbber of
5. Steam generaator neuttrons
6. Light
L water pump
p • a shielding system to prrotect equippment
7. Heavy
H water pump and people from m radiation
8. Fueling mach hines • a ssystem that pulls all thiis together iinto a
9. Heavy
H water moderator workkable devicee.
10. Pressure tubee
11. Steam going tot steam turbbine
12. Cold
C water reeturning from
m turbine
13. Containment
C building

The fue
el:
Possible fuels inclu ude some of o the variious isotopees of
uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu). The only natuurally
occurringg fuel witth suitable properties of signifficant
quantities is U-235 5, hence most
m reactorss use this fuel.
Naturallyy occurring uranium is composed of 0.7% U U-235.
The rest is U-238. This percen ntage is too low to susttain a
chain reaction wh hen combined with most pracctical
moderato ors. Hence either, the probability
p of fission muust be
enhanced d or the mod derator effecctiveness mu ust be enhan
anced.
One grou up of reactorr types (PWWR, BWR, HTGR)H enricch the
fuel (a co
ostly task) an
nd use a cheaap moderato or (ordinary w water or graaphite).
The mo
oderator:
The bestt moderator to slow dow wn a speedy y neutron iss something that is the same size aas the
neutron itself.
i This iss true because if a neutrron hit a masssive target, it would jusst bounce offf in a
different direction buut with littlee loss in enerrgy like a haard ball agaiinst a wall. If the neutroon hit
an objectt much smalller that itseelf, it would just continuue on virtuaally unaffecteed. But if it hit a
hydrogen n atom, whiich is just a proton and d an electronn, that is allmost exactlly the mass of a
neutron, it could lose all its eneergy in one collision, juust like in a game of billliards. How wever,
hydrogen n does absorrb neutrons as a well and we w
want to preserve th hese preciou us neutrons so
that they can cause fiission.

The deutterium isotoope of hydro ogen, at twiice

the masss of hydrog gen, is almo ost as good d a
slowing down
d agent but since it already has an
extra neu
utron in the nucleus, it has
h a very lo ow
absorptio
on cross secttion. So, oveerall deuteriu
um
is a far better modeerator than hydrogen. By B
using deeuterium in the form of heavy waater
natural uranium
u cann be used as a fuel. If
ordinary water is used, the fuel must be
enriched in U-235.

ossible modeerators inclu

Other po ude graphite and gases such as carb rbon dioxidee and heliumm. A
good mooderator has a high scatttering crosss section, a low absorpttion cross seection and sslows
down thee neutron in the
t least num
mber of colliisions.

The coolant:
The fissioning
fi process generates energy,
predomin nately in thhe form off vibrationaal kinetic
energy of the fisssion produccts. Such vibrating
moleculees constitute a familiar phenomenon
p n to all of
us the fu
uel heats up. If we don’tt cool the fu
uel, it will
melt andd the radioactive fissionn products, now that
they are mobile, may y find a path
h to the enviironment.
To preveent this, a co
oolant (wateer is commo only used) iss passed oveer the fuel. So far, we have
fuel, modderator and coolant.
c

We typiccally use thee 'heat engine' process to o turn this heeat into a m
more useable (that is, flexxible,
transporttable, conven nient, etc.) form
f of enerrgy. This heaat is used too boil water and the resuulting
steam driives a turbinne which driv ves an electrrical generattor. Electriciity is a veryy convenient form
of energyy - today it iss so ubiquito
ous that it is hard to imagge life withoout it.
Control:
Control of
o the fissionning processs is achievedd
most eassily by simp ply adding oro removing g
neutron absorbers. Materiaals such ass
cadmium m readily abssorb neutron
ns and can bee
convenieently formedd into solid rods.
r So, by
y
having a number of these control c rodss
partially inserted innto the mod derator tank k
(also called the calaandria) amon ngst the fueel
and mod derator in guide tubes, the neutron n
populatioon and be co
ontrolled.

Hence thhe fissioning process andd the resultan

nt heat outpuut can be conntrolled. Forr safety’s sakke, in
CANDU Us, these con ntrol rods annd the assocciated contrrol system eelectronics aand measureement
devices are built fo peration aree highly reedundant, annd employ such
or reliable, fail-safe op
additionaal safety con
ncepts such as
a group sepaaration.
Shielding:
Uraniumm isotopes aree not very raadioactive by y themselvees and do noot constitute a direct radiiation
hazard. You can saafely hold a fresh CAN NDU fuel buundle in youur hands. It is the fissiooning
process that
t creates the t nasty rad dioactive fisssion productts. These aree dangerous and must bee kept
isolated from
f us. Raadiation takees on a numb ber of formss. Alpha andd beta particcles are enerrgetic
charged particles th hat cannot penetrate
p solids to any significant degree. Soo as long aas the
radioactivve fission prroducts are contained
c by
y a fuel sheat
ath or some oother pipe orr wall, there is no
concern. Neutrons are a not charg ged and can n penetrate ssolid walls. We protecct ourselves from
them by thick wallss that slow down and absorb a the nneutrons. Coombinationss of hydrogeenous
materialss (like water and hydrocaarbons) and absorbing m materials (likke boron andd cadmium) m make
good neuutron shieldss. Gamma raadiation, essentially veryy energetic pphotons (orddinary light is low
energy ph hotons), are best stopped d by dense material
m like lead and conncrete. So, cconstructing good
shielding
g is not an on nerous task, but it is an important
i onne. Like in the control ssystems, saffety is
enhancedd by redundaancy.

Advantagges:
 CANDU is the most efficien nt of all reactoors in using urranium: it usees about 15% less uranium tthan a
prressurized wateer reactor for each
e megawatt of electricity pproduced
 Use
U of natural uranium
u widenns the source of supply and m makes fuel fabrication easierr. Most countriies can
manufacture
m thee relatively inex
xpensive fuel.
 Th here is no needd for uranium enrichment
e faccility.
 Fu uel reprocessinng is not need ded, so costs facilities
f and wwaste disposall associated w with reprocessinng are
avvoided.
 CANDU reactorrs can be fueleed with a numb ber of other low
w-fissile conteent fuels, incluuding spent fueel from
lig
ght water reacttors. This redu uces dependenccy on uranium in the event of future supplyy shortages andd price
in
ncreases.
Disadvanttages:
 Fiirst, at a CAN NDU plant it iss comparativelly easy to diveert spent fuel iin order to prooduce plutoniuum for
nuuclear weapons.
 Seecond, a CANDU reactor could experiencee a violent pow wer excursion, potentially leaading to contaiinment
faailure and a releease of radioacctive material to
t the environmment.