Ontario Power Generation signs initial deal to refurbish Darlington

• 12 years ago (2012-03-02)
• David Flin

Nuclear 640

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Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has signed a $600 million contract for the initial phase of the refurbishment of its Darlington nuclear power plant. This is believed to be the Canadian province’s largest single nuclear refurbishment. This phase of the refurbishment has been awarded to the SNC-Lavalin Group, which will spend three years on planning and preparation work on the four reactors.

Prior to undertaking work at the Darlington site, SNC-Lavalin will construct a full-scale replica to practise working. Ted Gruetzner, spokesman for OPG, said: “If you’re working on something like a turbine, you can be there all day. You can’t do that in a reactor, as you are limited in how long you can be there. You are only allowed a certain dose of radiation a year. It is a lesson we learned from other projects that ran into trouble.”

The replica reactor is said to be the first of its kind on this scale, and will be built near the Darlington plant.

Work on the actual refurbishment is scheduled to start in 2016, with each reactor being taken off-line sequentially. Completion of the work is scheduled for 2024. Gruetzner said that the total cost of the project could range from $6-10 billion. The refurbishment will give the reactors, with a combined output of 3500 MW, another 25 years of operational life.