In December of 2015, Bruce Power announced its plan to refurbish six of its eight nuclear reactors at its plant near Kincardine, Ont. The project, originally scheduled to commence in 2016, was postponed until 2020 based on the usable life of the reactors. The 15-year refurbishment project will include work on six of the plant’s eight CANDU reactors. The eight reactors produce 6,300 MW of power annually, approximately 30 per cent of Ontario’s current energy usage. The Bruce Power refurbishment project will make up to 23,000 jobs possible and generate about $6.3 billion in annual economic benefits in communities throughout the province. The new agreement between the Ontario government and Bruce Power has achieved $1.7 billion in savings for electricity customers when compared to the forecast in the 2013 Long-Term Energy Plan (2013 LTEP). This means a reduction in forecast household electricity bills by about $66 each year over the next decade according to the Ontario government. Bruce Power is investing approximately $13 billion of its own funds to cover the costs associated with the refurbishment, and agrees to take full risk of cost overruns on refurbishments of the six nuclear units. In October 2020, the project reached an important milestone as workers have completed the preparations to begin the major component replacement with the successful installation of protective shielding and 16 bulkheads, weighing over seven tons each, to isolate Unit 6 from the operating units. The majority of the Major Component Replacement work in 2022 will involve the installation of Unit 6 reactor components. This will include the upper feeder install and lower feeder installations, calandria tube installations, fuel channel assembly installation and moderator refill. In addition, the final major system outage commenced in December 2021 and will be complete in June 2022. It encompasses conventional systems including pressure vessels, heat exchangers, turbine generator, isolated phase bus and other high-voltage work, large motors and pumps. The return to service of Unit 6 will continue through 2022, leading to project completion in 2023. (All capital cost is disclosed by TC Energy)
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