Nuclear power in Canada

Canada has 18 Candu reactors sited at six stations with a total capacity of 11.8 GW or 14.7 per cent of total electricity generation. Eight of the top 10 places in the lifetime load factor table are occupied by Canadian Candu units, and Canadian electricity prices are the lowest in the world. However the Canadian civil nuclear power programme has not been entirely trouble free, and fuel channel replacement has been carried out on the Pickering 1 and 2 units because of hydride blistering of the pressure tubes in the core. Two Candu reactors have been sold abroad - to South Korea and Argentina. Research carried out by Atomic Energy of Canada is briefly outlined, and includes radioactive waste management, fundamental nuclear physics and fusion. (U.K.)