CANDU Owners Group President and CEO Fred Dermarkar Speaking at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearing for the licence renewal of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Chalk River research and test establishment Pembroke, January 25, 2018

For the record, my name is Fred Dermarkar, and I am the President and CEO of the CANDU Owners Group.

Thank you, President Binder and Members of the Commission for giving the CANDU Owners Group, or COG as we are often called, the opportunity to present our thoughts on CNL’s request for a 10-year license renewal.

I do not intend to repeat what I have already submitted in the letter of support, but rather to amplify its content.

First, I would like to provide a brief history of COG. The origins of COG go back to 1979. That year, AECL, the developer of CANDU technology, together with , the first operator of CANDU technology, joined forces with a common vision to advance it.

In 1984, Hydro Quebec and NB Power, the other Canadian utilities operating CANDU reactors, joined AECL and Ontario Hydro to establish COG.

Today, all operators of CANDU reactors in seven countries worldwide, together with AECL’s successor, CNL, are members of COG.

Together, they invest over $60M annually in R&D activities in six areas of research to advance the technology to strengthen safety performance, reliability and affordability to the benefit of society.

To put this amount in context, it is in line with the spending of the Top 15, or so, private sector research investors in .

This work not only helps develop better nuclear plants, but it also fosters innovation that progresses Canada’s innovation agenda and creates an opportunity for advancement in other sectors, such as healthcare.

CNL plays a key role in COG. It is not only a member of COG, collaborating with utility operators to define COG’s direction and work program, but it is also COG’s largest provider of R&D services.

As a member of COG, subject matter experts from CNL participate on almost all of COG’s R&D technical committees alongside other committee members from the utility operators.

The utility operators bring to the table an understanding of what is needed to support safe, reliable, and economical performance, while CNL researchers and scientists bring to the table an understanding of what is possible through R&D.

This unique collaboration between the utility operators and the scientists at Canada’s national lab results in R&D solutions that are at the leading edge, at the state of the art, yet having a high degree of relevance to utility operations.

I used the word “unique” to describe this collaboration because, in my 37 years of experience in the industry, I have not seen a model anywhere that enables the same breadth and depth of direct collaboration between a national research lab and utility operators.

The result: Our surveys consistently show that close to 90 per cent of the R&D undertaken through COG has been, or is intended to be, implemented by the utilities.

The benefit: After more than 30 years of operation, CANDU reactors continue to have an excellent track record for delivering safe, reliable, economical and clean energy.

In fact, they are setting new records of performance and they contributed 63 per cent of the electricity produced in Ontario last year.

These remarkable achievements are a direct result of • excellence in design, • excellence in operation, • excellence in regulation and, thanks to CNL’s contributions, • excellence in innovation through R&D.

I could spend the whole day talking about the exciting work being done by CNL to support COG’s R&D program and barely scratch the surface.

But I will restrict myself to three examples by way of illustration.

The first example comes from the area of Chemistry, Materials and Components, which is one of the six R&D areas I mentioned earlier.

One of the projects that CNL is leading involves cutting edge research to find cracks in materials long before a crack is visible to the most sensitive measuring technologies we have today, including ultrasonic, eddy current and x-ray technologies.

This research will help utilities to extend the life of steam generators, thus avoiding the need for their replacement over the life of plant.

This not only enhances the economics of operation, but it also avoids generating the waste that comes with the replacement of these components and allows resources to be focused in other areas of plant maintenance.

Although this research is being undertaken specifically for the alloys used in CANDU steam generators, the science being developed could be applied to other materials, and used in any applications beyond nuclear where cracking is a potential concern.

I would now like to turn my attention to Health, Safety and Environment, which is another area of research.

CNL is leading a series of projects to explore the effects of tritium on the environment.

One project that CNL is undertaking is looking at how naturally occurring tritium diffuses and distributes in the environment, and why it concentrates in some areas more than in others.

Releases of tritium from Canadian NPPs today are small and far below regulatory standards or World Health Organization guideline levels.

However, in nuclear, we strive for continuous improvement in environmental performance.

Understanding the factors that drive variations in background tritium will help us to better understand the incremental contribution of tritium from NPPs.

Another project CNL is leading is looking at the impact of very low doses of tritium on living organisms.

CNL’s facilities and scientists are looked upon internationally as world leaders in this area of research.

Recently CNL, COG and the CNSC collaborated with the IRSN in France on a four-year multi-million-dollar project in this area.

The learning from these projects will help to inform decisions taken by operators and regulators to assure environmental protection.

One more example is in the research area of Safety and Licensing, where CNL has made outstanding contributions to enhance nuclear safety, both domestically and internationally.

The events at Fukushima reminded the international community of the importance of being prepared for the unexpected, of understanding how events not anticipated in the design basis might impact the plant; and of developing approaches to mitigate them.

Even before this event, the scientists at CNL, funded partly through COG, were already ahead of the curve.

I am sure you will all recall seeing on TV the horrific explosions from the accident.

These explosions were caused by hydrogen gas formed during the event.

Prior to the accident, CNL had been working for many years to better understand the generation of hydrogen following extreme events, and had developed a special facility just for that purpose.

In addition, CNL pioneered the development of passive autocatalytic recombiners, or PARs to remove this hydrogen from the atmosphere should an accident occur.

The installation of PARs at CANDU NPPs in Canada had already started when Fukushima happened and was completed for all Canadian NPPs not long after the accident as part of the post-Fukushima action plans.

To conclude CNL, through its facilities and researchers, is a national asset that makes Canada stronger. Through its contributions to the nuclear industry, CNL is helping Canada meet its goals for climate change through nuclear energy and helping utilities enhance the safety, reliability and affordability of nuclear energy through innovation. CNL is helping to assure and enhance environmental protection. And, as other speakers have noted, it is making significant contributions in advancing the application of nuclear technology to many other areas that directly benefit society, such as healthcare.

Ultimately, it is helping to improve the quality of life for all Canadians and should be granted a 10-year licence.