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GE Declares ACR1000 Dead
He tried to assure the crowd the company had shelved its plans to create the low enriched uranium production line and would not be bringing enriched uranium into the community anytime in the foreseeable future because there is currently no market for it in Canada.
"We have no plans on the drawing board at the moment to move forward with the production of low enriched uranium fuel because at this point in time there is no demand in Canada either now or in the foreseeable future," he said.
Well, if you have been following my blog, you would know about the ACR1000 'Big Lie' that should have been exposed on Wikileaks, but is left to me instead. And it's all about the fuel they have to use to get that huge power density. AECL and GE are using the term 'lightly enriched', which is equivalent to 'little bit pregnant'.
It means they are using 2% enriched fuel, instead of the US standard of 4% (I think natural is around 1% or less). The easiest way to do this is just mix in some pure U235, or old-bomb mixed oxide into the natural uranium. It's a great way to get rid of old bomb stuff, but there is absolutely no difference in the process and handling of 'low' vs enriched fuel. Might as well just call it enriched fuel.
If we have our Korean Ontario Nuclear Design Corporation, and fix up the ACR1000, then we will be going to enriched fuel. If we pick any other design, it uses enriched. Only if we use a spruced-up Darlington will we go with natural, but we will used mixed-oxide to burn up old bomb stuff. GE might as well relocate to Port Hope. :)
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