The Organisation of Canadian Nuclear Industries (OCNI) has announced the establishment of the "Canadian Advanced Manufacturing in Nuclear Alliance" (CAMiNA).
CAMiNA will comprise representatives from the Canadian nuclear industry, including suppliers, utilities, research organisations, universities, and government entities convened to oversee progress along the "Advanced Manufacturing Roadmap for the Canadian Nuclear Industry" released on 12 January.
"CAMiNA will promote greater use of Advanced Manufacturing technologies in the Canadian nuclear industry and advocate for research, development, and application of various Advanced Manufacturing technologies to maintain or improve Canada's nuclear fleet's cost, reliability, safety performance, and future SMRs," said OCNI CEO and CAMiNA Steering Committee member, Ron Oberth. "CAMiNA members will also consult with governments, regulators, and standards bodies on regulations and standards that will facilitate the implementation of additive manufacturing in nuclear applications."
Advanced Manufacturing, including additive manufacturing, offers a potential solution to address equipment or component obsolescence challenges in Canada’s Candu reactor fleet and has the potential to reduce fabrication costs of specific complex SMR components.
“CAMiNA will bring together a cross section of nuclear industry stakeholders to share experience on various applications of Advanced Manufacturing technologies, learn new developments in the field, discuss manufacturing challenges, review R&D programmes, and seek collaboration opportunities,” said Sean Donnelly, Director, Licensing & New Technology at Kinectrics and a co-author of the “Advanced Manufacturing Roadmap for the Canadian Nuclear Industry.”
“Other tech industries, aerospace, in particular, have achieved performance and cost savings through application of additive manufacturing of complex components,” said Stephan Braun of KSB Pumps, and the third member of the CAMiNA Steering Committee. “There is an example from the nuclear industry in Europe where a failed pump impeller has been digitised, ‘printed’, and installed to return a pump to service within 48 hours.”
The CAMiNA Steering Committee announced the appointment of Christine Burow as the Programme Director. She has extensive experience working at KSB Pumps in promoting additive manufacturing in nuclear and has developed a broad network across the Canadian nuclear industry. Her first task with be to build the CAMiNA membership base and plan the CAMiNA launch event in March 2022.
OCNI is an association of more than 230 Canadian suppliers to the nuclear industry that employ 20,000 highly skilled and specialised engineers, technologists, and trades people. OCNI companies design reactors, manufacture major equipment and components and provide engineering services and support to Candu and future SMR power plants in Canada as well as to Candu and Light Water Reactor plants in offshore markets.
