Pickering Nuclear Power Station in Toronto, Canada, Is About to Be Shut Down for Refurbishment

en.Wedoany.com Reported - Nicole Butcher, CEO of Ontario Power Generation (OPG), announced at the Canadian Investment Summit that the four units at the Pickering Nuclear Power Station's B plant, namely Units 5 through 8, will be taken out of service one after another and enter a comprehensive refurbishment phase lasting five to seven years. Since these four units began operation in the mid-1980s, they have consistently supplied about one-tenth of Ontario's electricity. With the shutdown of these units, all eight reactors at the Pickering Nuclear Power Station will cease generating electricity.

According to OPG's financial plan, the refurbishment project will begin first with Unit 5, which is expected to be reconnected to the grid in 2031, while the entire project is planned to be fully completed by 2034. This process will consume substantial resources and time, bringing a certain degree of impact on Ontario's energy supply.

The Pickering Nuclear Power Station uses Canada's unique CANDU heavy-water reactor design, which is significantly different from the commercial light-water reactors currently operating in the United States. What makes the CANDU reactor unique is that its nuclear fuel is distributed in hundreds of horizontal tubes rather than concentrated in a single large pressure vessel. This design allows the CANDU reactor to achieve a "rebirth through nirvana" by replacing its internal tubes, a technically unattainable advantage for reactors currently in service in the United States.

During the refurbishment project, construction workers will need to extract large numbers of pressure tubes and high-temperature heavy-water feeder pipes from the four reactors. Before starting the replacement work, all nuclear fuel inside the reactors must first be safely emptied. This will be a complex and delicate process requiring a high level of professional skill and rigorous execution.

In the face of the nuclear power station's shutdown, the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) of Ontario assesses that, through the end of 2027, the province's electricity supply can generally remain balanced. However, because Ontario's power grid is increasingly interconnected with other regions and overall North American grid capacity is tightening, Ontario has lowered the amount of imported electricity it can rely on in summer.

This refurbishment project requires a final license from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). The CNSC will hold a hearing in October and is expected to make a final ruling within four months. If all goes smoothly, OPG plans to officially begin the dismantling and rebuilding of Unit 5 in January next year. The industry widely expects that, drawing on the experience OPG accumulated in the Darlington Nuclear Power Station refurbishment project, this project can provide a new demonstration for the extended service and technical transformation of nuclear power stations worldwide.