CANDU 9 safety improvements

The CANDU 9 is a family of single-unit Nuclear Power Plant designs based on proven CANDU concepts and equipment from operating CANDU plants capable of generating 900 MWe to 1300 MWe depending on the number of fuel channel used and the type of fuel, either natural uranium fuel or slightly enriched uranium fuel. The basic design, the CANDU 9 480/NU, uses the 480 fuel channel Darlington reactor and employs Natural Uranium (NU) fuel Darlington, the latest of the 900 MWe Class CANDU plants, consists of four integrated units with a total output of approximately 3740 MWe located in Ontario, Canada. AECL has completed the concept definition engineering for this design, and will be completing the design integration engineering by the end of 1996. AECL's design philosophy is to build-in product improvements in evolutionary from the initial prototype plants, NPD and Douglas Point, to today's operating CANDU's construction projects and advanced designs. CANDU 9 safety design follows the evolutionary path, including simple improvements based on existing well-proven CANDU safety concepts. The CANDU 9 builds on the experience base for the Darlington reference plant, and on AECL's extensive safety design experience with single unit CANDU 6 power plants. The latest CANDU 6 plants are being built in Korea by KEPCO at Wolsong 2,3 and 4. The Safety improvements for the CANDU 9 power plant are intended to provide the owner-operator with increased assurance of reliable, trouble-free operation, with greater safety margin, with improved public acceptance, and with ease of licensibility