Canada and Indian Reactors

It has recently been proposed that the Canadian reactor manufacture company Atomic Energy Canada, Limited should be sold to Indian interests, presumably the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), an Indian government owned business that builds and operates Indian power reactors. NPCIL is a very successful reactor designer of small to middle size reactors. And AECL has something that NPCIL needs, and that is reactor manufacturing capabilities. India is buying foreign reactors in part to jump start the Indian reactor supply chain, but in the long run indian plans still envision Indian designed and built reactors producing most of the countries future energy.

Currently India has a number of successful, low cost reactors, whose design has evolved from the an early AECL CANDU reactor design. A couple of the Canadian reactors were built in India, and served as prototypes for subsequent Indian reactors. The Indians appear to have solved a number of technological problems with the CANDU design, and are now interested in exporting their small and possibly their middle size reactors. AECL is stymied because they don't have any up to date reactor products, and their old reactors are known to have significant material flaws that necessitate expensive rebuilds every 25 years. The Indians appear to have overcome this problem. Thus Indian technology and reactor design might benefit SECL, but what benefits would the Indians receive from the deal?

We should note that it would cost significantly more for AECL to manufacture reactors in Canada, than for NPCIL to manufacture reactors in India. But on the other hand AECL has a number of international customers in Asia, Latin America, and Europe and an established presence in North America. AECL gives NPCIL an opening to its old customers and an international reputation. Sale of NPCIL designed reactors to customers in the United States as well as Canada might be a possibility. NPCIL could aid AECL to lower reactor costs by exporting parts as well as the design of low cost reactors. The smallest Indian reactor at rated at 220 MWe, has very large potential for world wide sales, and might well sell well in the united States, where small reactors are beginning to attract attention. A second Indian reactor. the larger 700 MWe design is similar in size to the CANDU 600 reactor. The Canadians have looked at an enhanced CANDU 600, but It might cost less to adapt the Indian 700 MW reactor to North American requirements. Among the advantages of the Canadian-Indian reactor design is the absence of such manufacturing bottlenecks as requirement for a large and difficult to manufacture reactor pressure vessel.

Thus the AECL could adapt the Indian reactors to Canadian and American requirements, and manufacture and sell them in North America, together with sales to other traditional AECL customers. NPCIL could contribute its technology and capital which AECL desperately needs. NPCIL could also sell reactors directly to customers in Asia and Africa.

The Indians are developing a reactor, the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR). This reactor has Generation III + safety features. In India the AHWR will operate on a thorium fuel cycle, but a AHWR design that uses uranium is in the works for export. The AHWR(U) might fit into the AECL catalogue, and a 1000 MW big brother might cap the AECL offerings for some time to come. Thus NPCIL does have something to offer AECL, and AECL might help NPRIL find international customers, as well as boosting reactor production. There would be, of course, issues of corporate culture to overcome. Thus a deal is at least possible.