Canada seeks bidders for its nuclear power reactors

The Canadian government is seeking private investment in the nuclear power reactor unit of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL).  Finding private investors willing to take a stake in the Candu Reactor Division is part of the GovernmentÔÇÖs plan to spin off the division into a separate corporation.  The companyÔÇÖs reactors are based on a design that uses costly heavy water, rather than regular water, to moderate their operation.  Integral systems in many Candu reactors typically require replacement long before their expected expiration dates, pushing up their operating costs significantly.  The reactor technology represents almost 10 percent of reactor capacity around the globe, including all of Canada's nuclear capacity, which produces about 15 percent of the nation's electricity.  In June, the province of Ontario scrapped a multi-billion-dollar plan to build two new Candu reactors because of concerns about spiraling costs and the future of AECL.  A month earlier, a federal government review had recommended that AECL should be restructured, citing France's Areva, ToshibaÔÇÖs Westinghouse and the US-Japanese joint venture GE-Hitachi as firms that might take a stake.  Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Russian state-owned Rosatom were also named as significant industry players.  There are three basic departments that make up the Candu Reactor DivisionÔÇönew-build projects; life-extension or refurbishment projects; and general services.  As a whole, the division employs approximately 1,800 full-time workers.  A total of 32 Candu reactors are currently in operation worldwide, including 20 in Canada. The others are located in Pakistan, Argentina, Romania, South Korea, China and India.  The sale will not include the research branch of Atomic Energy, a major producer of medical isotopes.  Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt said that investors will be given the opportunity to submit proposals for the commercial division of AECL.  Any successful proposal for the division will be expected to meet several objectives. Firstly, the government needs to control costs while maximizing the return on investment to taxpayers; and the Canadian nuclear industry also needs to be kept in a position of strength.  The government also wants to see a proposal ensuring that nuclear power is a safe, reliable and economically viable clean energy option.  There has not yet been any indication on how much the division might be sold for.  *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *