Recent experience related to neutronic transients in Ontario Hydro CANDU nuclear generating stations

Ontario Hydro presently operates 18 CANDU reactors in the province of Ontario, Canada. All of these reactors are of the CANDU Pressurized Heavy Water design, although their design features differ somewhat reflecting the evolution that has taken place from 1971 when the first Pickering unit started operation to the present as the Darlington units are being placed in service. Over the last three years, two significant neutronic transients took place at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station 'A' (NGS A) one of which resulted in a number of fuel failures. Both events provided valuable lessons in the areas of operational safety, fuel performance And accident analysis. The events and the lessons learned are discussed in this paper