# Candu reactors

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candu-reactors/576412>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 29, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candu-reactors/576412 "2011-03-29T18:52:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![kun11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/91b2a8/32.png) [@kun11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kun11)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candu-reactors/576412/1 "2011-03-29T18:52:50Z")

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Could the mess at the nuclear plant in Fukushima been avoided if they’d been using Candu reactors?

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**Author:** ![AndrewL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)\
**Post date:** [March 29, 2011, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candu-reactors/576412/2 "2011-03-29T20:32:00Z")

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The mess at Fukushima could have been avoided if they had used nearly any other design. There has been a lot of improvement in reactor design since the GE Mark 1 units used at Fukushima were built. Candu reactors are designed with a large amount of heat capacity and passive cooling so they should handle a loss of cooling incident better than the Fukushima plant did, but the same is true of essentially any modern reactor design.

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**Author:** ![DWMarch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwmarch/32/1010_2.png) [@DWMarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DWMarch)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candu-reactors/576412/3 "2011-03-30T09:57:35Z")

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> [@kun11](#):
>
> Could the mess at the nuclear plant in Fukushima been avoided if they’d been using Candu reactors?

I can’t go for that.

No CANDU.

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candu-reactors/576412/4 "2011-03-30T11:22:51Z")

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That’s not the Candu attitude we’re looking for here.

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**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2011, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/candu-reactors/576412/5 "2011-03-30T11:32:52Z")

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All right, you went fission for an answer and found out there’s better technology now. Don’t have a meltdown.