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Bruce Power, Ontario's largest independent generator and a partnership among TransCanada Corp., BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust, Cameco Corp., the Power Workers' Union and The Society of Energy Professionals, announced in late 2005 its plans to fully restore Bruce A Generating Station.
The plan is a multi-year project to restart Units 1 and 2, replace the fuel channels and steam generators on Unit 3 and install new steam generators on Unit 4. The first restarted unit is expected to be online in 2009, subject to approval by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).
In late summer 2006, arrival of the first of 16 massive new steam generators was a major milestone in the restart of Units 1 & 2.
Each of the four reactor units in Bruce A contains eight steam generators. Sixteen of the new vessels will be installed in Units 1 and 2 as part of the current restart project and there are plans to eventually replace the eight steam generators in Unit 4 as well.
Babcock & Wilcox Canada is manufacturing the replacement steam generators, which each contain 4,800 corrosion-resistant tubes.
Duncan Hawthorne, Bruce Power's president and CEO said that watching that first new steam generator roll through their community was a welcomed sight for many people in Bruce County.
"Many saw degradation in the boilers of Unit 2 during the early 1990s as the beginning of the end for Bruce A, which was eventually shut down by the site's previous operators," Hawthorne said. "The arrival of Bruce Power in 2001 signaled a new beginning. Already, we have restarted Units 3 and 4 and the arrival of new steam generators is a vivid symbol to many people here that our vision to fully restore Bruce A is becoming a reality."
Rich Reimels, President of B&W Canada, said the delivery of these components to Bruce Power is significant not only for his company, but for the Canadian nuclear industry.
"These are the first steam generators ever replaced on a CANDU unit," Reimels said. "We began work on these components in 2003. By the time the last one is complete in 2008, we will have invested more than 900,000 hours of local labor into them."
Reimels said all of the design and manufacturing for the Bruce Power components was done in Cambridge, with materials supplied from across the globe including Japan, the United States, Sweden, France and the Czech Republic.
Once restarted, Units 1 and 2 will return another 1,500 MW of clean electricity to the Ontario market, bumping Bruce Power's total output to more than 6,200 MW.
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