Ontario nuclear update - September 30th, 2023

[OVERKILL]

A couple of events that didn't make it into my previous update thread.

- The board of OPG approved the refurbishment of Pickering B. This is huge. The government now has to determine whether to proceed. Since they were the one who requested the feasibility study surrounding the project, it is highly unlikely that the project will not proceed. Costs are not known (publicly) at present, but it is expected to cost more than the Darlington A refurbishment due to the amount of work involved. This is a larger project, with more components that need to be replaced, including 48 steam generators. On the flip side, the units will all be over 40 years old before refurbishment starts, so this will buy them another 50 at least, which means 15 more years of power production before refurbishment than at Darlington, and post-refurbishment operation will also be longer.

This is a great video of what it's like inside Pickering:


A quote that resonates deeply with me, given the work our group put into saving Pickering:

What you are looking at is the digital control computer for Unit 5, it's 80's technology, we are looking to refurbish and replace with more modern technology as we move into refurbishment.

When we started this campaign we were told in no uncertain terms that there was absolutely no point in pursuing and pushing for the refurbishment of Pickering, that it was a done deal. Yet here we are, and pre-refurbishment activities are already underway. It's an incredible feeling.

Back to non-Pickering stuff:

- The government has been actively looking at sites for new builds. Topping the list is Wesleyville, a site I have mentioned previously. It was a former oil fired plant site (4 units) that was never completed, designed to be a twin to Lennox. It already has multiple 500kV transmission lines to it, making it a high value asset.

Other sites are Nanticoke, former site of North America's largest coal plant, Lambton, another former coal facility, and of course even Pickering A, once the 4 units there are shuttered.

Pickering A would obviously require some decommissioning work to be completed before it could be utilized, unless they refurbished the A units, but that's highly unlikely due to the potential cost of such a project.

- No new news on Bruce C, but it has only been a month since the announcement.

- Bruce B6 has had a totally uneventful return to service and has been reliably churning out ~820MWe since coming back from refurbishment. This sets the tone for the remaining 5 units to be refurbished. Uprate work is ongoing with the goal of getting the site to over 7,000MWe by 2030.

 

[alarmguy]

Well. hold onto your hat up there!
What do you know, New York's Green Energy plan has issues. Windmill problems, developers are asking for BILLIONS more in NYS taxpayer money, got themselves in a pickle, need more money. NYS says no.
When will people smarten up?
Who knows what the outcome will be, sooner or later they will most likely figure out a way to make the taxpayers pay, not sure if I am reading this right but seems like rates will be higher then proposed no matter what... ?

"
New York's state government rejected requests from a group of offshore wind energy developers who asked to renegotiate existing contracts amid rising prices and inflation.

The New York State Public Service Commission (NYPSC), the state's main regulator overseeing electric, gas and water utilities, issued the decision late last week, saying it would "preserve the robust competitive bidding process that provides critically needed renewable energy resources to New York." The energy developers had requested billions of dollars in additional taxpayer funding for four proposed offshore wind projects and 86 onshore green energy projects.

"The requested amendments to the contracts would have provided adjustments outside the competitive procurement process; such relief is fundamentally inconsistent with long-standing Commission policy," Commission Chair Rory Christian said in a statement."

Source =

Blue state delivers crippling blow to green energy development, jeopardizing Biden's climate goals

New York rejected petitions from energy developers who asked for more taxpayer funding for offshore wind projects amid inflation in a potentially fatal blow to those projects.

www.foxnews.com

 

[PandaBear]

So what is considered refurbishment, decommissioning, expansion, etc? I can see that replacing steam turbine or other non-reactor-core components to be straight forward but what about the core component replacement and upgrade? Do they keep the existing containment but replace all the cores? If that's the case how difficult would it be to just build an additional unit of the exact same design (in politics obviously as it is not a technical problem).

 

[OVERKILL]

So what is considered refurbishment,

I'll describe refurbishment below.

decommissioning, expansion, etc?

Decommissioning is the removal of all the nuclear equipment, and demolition of the site, followed by remediation of the grounds. There have been several of these done in the USA already. Expansion, would be adding another unit or units. Bruce is being expanded with Bruce C, adding another 4-5 units to the plant. In the context of Pickering A, if your desire were to build something where the A units are presently, the existing concrete structure, which extends considerably into the bedrock, would need to be removed to facilitate that.

Here is Pickering A being constructed:

I can see that replacing steam turbine or other non-reactor-core components to be straight forward but what about the core component replacement and upgrade? Do they keep the existing containment but replace all the cores? If that's the case how difficult would it be to just build an additional unit of the exact same design (in politics obviously as it is not a technical problem).

CANDU reactors don't have a single reactor pressure vessel, we have a large, unpressurized calandria, full of heavy water, that is perforated by calandria tubes, which then have pressure tubes inserted inside them. There is an annulus gas that is pumped between the two tubes and annulus spacers to prevent the pressure tubes from touching the calandria tubes. This means that the moderator water, in the calandria, doesn't come in contact with the pressure tubes. The annulus gas is used for leak detection.

The calandria is a lifetime component, and is never replaced.

Both the calandria tubes and pressure tubes are replaced during a refurbishment. Bruce Power and their partners have developed a machine that can do it in one step now, which has greatly improved the efficiency of the process.

We've done just PT replacement before, this was done on the Pickering A units in the 80's, it's reasonably inexpensive. However, normally, it is done as part of the mid-life refurbishment, at which point, many other tasks are wrapped into the project to take advantage of the access to the unit and the duration of it being offline. At Bruce Power, they are replacing all the steam generators, that will also have to happen at Pickering. Upgrades to fuelling machines, control systems, and other things are also performed, to improve plant efficiency and performance.

Unlike a new build, there's no civil work being done, it's like a very thorough major component overhaul on a jetliner, if you wanted a comparison.

Yes, everything happens within the existing containment envelope. Each unit has its own containment, and then BOP (Bulk of Plant), so any new build involves considerable civil work. The part that is made easier is that usually the licensing is a lot easier on an existing site. And yes, if you are building an existing design, that's typically a lot easier as well.

Calandria face at Pickering, during construction:

Here's a calandria arriving on a barge at Darlington:

And the fuelling machine:

This is the mockup at the Darlington Energy Centre, it gives you an idea of how they pressure tubes go into the calandria, and how the feeders connect to the end fittings: