Work is part of major life extension programme at Bruce facility
Bruce Power has reached a major milestone in its major component replacement (MCR) project at the Bruce nuclear site in Ontario, Canada, by completing the Unit 3 reactor removal series safely and ahead of schedule.
The removal series was completed faster than in the Unit 6 MCR project through lessons learned and technological advancement, the operator of the eight-unit station, which is owned by Ontario Power Generation, said in a press
Bruce Power said the calandria tube removal, completed on 26 July, set a refurbishment record for Candu nuclear plants, finishing 11 days ahead of schedule.
With the removal series complete, millwrights, boilermakers, and electricians will begin reactor inspection and installation work that will include the replacement of 960 feeder tubes, 480 fuel channels, and 480 calandria tubes
The Unit 3 MCR project is the second of six refurbishment projects set to extend the Bruce Power site’s operational life to 2064.
Bruce Power has previously put the cost of the project for the six units at about CAD13bn (€8.6bn, $9.4bn). In 2022 Ontario’s Independent Electricity System Operator said the final fixed cost of the Unit 3 refurbishment alone was CAD1.9bn.
Bruce Power is in the final stages of preparation for the Unit 4 MCR outage, scheduled to begin in 2025, while Units 5, 7 and 8 are also slated for refurbishment over the next 10 years. Two units at the site, Units 1 and 2, are not part of the project.
In September 2023 Unit 6 at Bruce returned to commercial operation following completion of its MCR project.
The eight Candu units at the Bruce site began commercial operation between September 1977 and May 1987.
