Canada, Climate, CANDU & Canoes feat. Jeremy Whitlock

Due to the global geopolitics of the 1940's Canada became the
unlikely centre for the world's second largest nuclear research
infrastructure at the end of World War II. Devoting itself to the
peaceful use of the atom It went on to develop a unique power
reactor design, the CANDU, based on the use of heavy water to
avoid the need for uranium enrichment and pressure tubes to get
around the need for a heavy forging industry for reactor vessels.
These features make the CANDU ideal for export and technology
transfer to less developed countries with industrial capacity
resembling that of Canada back in the 1960's.


CANDU reactors provide 61% of the power for the Ontario grid, the
largest province in Canada, making it one of the cleanest
electricity grids on earth and allowing for the complete phaseout
of coal. CANDU has been exported internationally and delivered on
budget and on time in China, South Korea and Romania. Alongside
it's high grade uranium deposits which are the richest in the
world, Canada has a unique ability to foster a made in Canada
reponse to climate change. It can export its ultra low carbon
technology to address its climate debt by helping developing
countries to leapfrog fossil fuels on their way to ultra low
carbon energy. 


CANDU meets many of the criteria for an advanced reactor design
with passive safety elements, modular design, and the ability to
use nuclear waste as fuel. Why then is CANDU languishing
especially in a country where the supply chain is 95% in
country? 


Dr. Jeremy Whitlock former president of the Canadian Nuclear
Society and Section Head of the Dept of Safegaurds at the IAEA
walks us through this incredible history. He is the brains behind
nuclearfaq a treasure trove on the history of nuclear energy in
Canada. http://www.nuclearfaq.ca/