Candu Energy Inc., an AtkinsRéalis company and original equipment manufacturer of CANDU® technology, announces it is entering into a special project with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), to develop a plan for a Pre-Licensing Design Review of the new CANDU MONARK™ reactor’s suitability to be licensed and built in Canada.
“Reactor development is a key differentiator for us as we have the exclusive license to deploy one of only a few large reactor technologies available worldwide, and so we have extensive experience navigating the nuclear licensing process in Canada,” said Joe St. Julian, President, Nuclear, AtkinsRéalis. “As the world enters a nuclear market super cycle with estimated demand for 1,000 new reactor builds, we remain on track to complete the CANDU MONARK’s design by 2027, positioning the first CANDU MONARK new build to begin as early as 2029 and be completed by the mid-2030s.”
This special project marks an important milestone since the CANDU MONARK reactor’s launch in 20231, by familiarizing CNSC staff with the CANDU MONARK design and allowing them to provide feedback on what will be needed in a future Pre-Licensing Design Review. AtkinsRéalis has around 300 staff working on the design.2 The conceptual design phase of the CANDU MONARK reactor was completed in September 2024, allowing AtkinsRéalis to confirm the nature of the work required to complete the preliminary engineering by 2027.
Pre-Licensing Design Review
Nuclear power vendors that seek to have a reactor built in Canada can complete a Vendor Design Review (VDR) with the CNSC. While not mandatory, the VDR is a mechanism that enables CNSC staff to provide feedback to a vendor early in the design to verify at a high level that Canadian nuclear regulatory requirements and expectations, as well as Canadian codes and standards, will be met. A VDR also serves to identify, and potentially resolve, any fundamental barriers to licensing for a new design in Canada. An application for a VDR is not an application for any type of license issued by the CNSC. Such an application is made by a purchasing utility. AtkinsRéalis believes completion of a VDR is an added measure that offers predictability to a purchasing utility.
A typical VDR includes three phases.3 Since the CANDU MONARK’s design heavily leverages the platform of past CANDU reactor models which have fully completed all three phases of the CNSC’s VDR, as well as those that have been licensed and built, AtkinsRéalis has asked the CNSC to consider two possible types of Pre-Licensing Design Review: either a VDR, or a preliminary regulatory design assessment.
With the special project between AtkinsRéalis and the CNSC, a group of experts at the CNSC will develop a schedule and estimate for both a VDR and a preliminary regulatory design assessment. The exchange of information in this first special project will allow the estimates to reflect the impact of the range of improvements and modernizations made to CANDU MONARK technology, their variance to past CANDU designs that have already gone through all three VDR phases, and any change to regulatory requirements and expectations that may be relevant.
AtkinsRéalis will then be able to evaluate which of these pathways will be most suitable in supporting the CANDU MONARK design program, with the goal of seeking rigorous review and feedback on the CANDU MONARK’s design in support of ensuring that any eventual CANDU MONARK new build project can be undertaken with confidence in the licensing costs and timeline.
To this day, CANDU reactors are the only designs to have completed all three phases of the CNSC’s VDR. It remains the only operating power reactor technology in Canada, with 18 reactors operating across the country.
