Ontario Construction News staff writer
Bruce Power and its construction partners have completed the bulk of the construction phase of the Unit 6 MCR outage and will bring the unit back online in the fourth quarter of 2023.
“We’re pleased with the progress we’ve made, along with our partners, as we look toward bringing Unit 6 back into service in 2023,” said Mike Rencheck, Bruce Power’s president and CEO. “Beginning our Unit 3 MCR outage in March and returning Unit 6 to service later in the year, our investments help to support a clean, carbon-free electricity grid for the people of Ontario for decades to come, while also stimulating economic development throughout the province.”
A milestone was reached Dec. 6 with completion of the refill of the moderator system in a CANDU reactor that circulates heavy water (D2O) through the calandria to remove moderator heat during reactor operation.
In November, the reactor area bridges were reinstalled in the Unit 6 vault. The reactor area bridges carry fuelling machines to all units for fuel bundles to be installed and removed while the reactor is online, a feature unique to CANDU reactors.
Bruce Power is in the final stages of preparation for the Unit 3 MCR outage, scheduled to begin March 1. The Unit 3 outage and subsequent MCR outages will build off successes and innovations in Unit 6.
Bruce Power’s Life-Extension Program and MCR project will extend the operational life of each reactor by 30 to 35 years out to 2064 and, as a result, help mitigate the predicted increase in GHG emissions intensity of the electricity grid.
The primary scope of the MCR Project is the removal and replacement of large nuclear components such as steam generators, all reactor internal parts and the vault pipework. During this multi-year campaign, upgrades are also made to electrical, the cooling water system, steam turbines, and safety systems, among others.
