Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has signed an agreement with Chicago-based Clean Core Thorium Energy to manufacture demonstration irradiation bundles of Clean Core’s ANEEL (Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life) fuel. The fuel is made with a combination of thorium and high-assay low-enriched uranium and is designed for use in pressurized heavy water reactors, such as Canada’s CANDU fleet.

The agreement comes as a test campaign using individual fuel pellets manufactured and tested in collaboration with Idaho National Laboratory nears an end. The agreement with CNL includes model validation at CNL and a Phase-1 prelicensing vendor design review with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

New fuel design: Because it has the same external geometry as the fuel currently used in CANDU reactors and other PHWRs, ANEEL fuel could be integrated into current reactor fleets without any major modifications to hardware or core design, according to Clean Core. ANEEL fuel is made to achieve higher burnup and improved fuel utilization in a once-through fuel cycle, reducing spent fuel volumes per unit of energy generated and strengthening proliferation resistance.

The fuel bundles that CNL will manufacture will be full-scale, prototypic products manufactured at Chalk River Laboratories in Canada. CNL will lead the development, qualification, and manufacturing of the bundles under the requirements of the Canadian Standard Association...