Canada’s SNC-Lavalin is to supply its 37M Natural Uranium Equivalent (NUE) fuel to units 1 and 2 of the Qinshan Phase III nuclear power plant in China’s Zhejiang province. The engineering service contract and a licensing agreement mark the first commercial use of the fuel – a mixture of depleted and recycled uranium – outside Canada.
SNC-Lavalin said its work under the contract – signed with China National Nuclear Corporation subsidiary Third Qinshan Nuclear Power Company (TQNPC) – includes design definition, design verification, update of reactor nuclear design and safety case, regulatory support and licensing.
Candu pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) are usually fuelled with natural uranium. Since 2008, Canada and China have proven, through an in-core irradiation demonstration in the Qinshan Phase III Candu 6 reactors, that NUE fuel can be used successfully as a natural uranium substitute. The first commercial demonstration of the use of fuel containing recovered uranium from used pressurised water reactor (PWR) fuel was in Qinshan Phase III unit 1. In March 2010, 12 NUE fuel bundles were inserted into the reactor, followed by a further 24 such fuel bundles. The trial use of the fuel ran for one year.
World Nuclear News – August 8, 2018.
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