OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
A few updates for those interested:
Darlington:
- DNGS Unit 2 refurbishment: Construction is 100% done, so the unit will now go through hot testing then brought back into service for the next 35-40+ years.
- DNGS Unit 3 refurbishment: Turn-down has been postponed due to the current pandemic, so the unit continues to operate. Unit 2 may be back online before Unit 3 goes down now and so DNGS may have 4x units operating again for a period.
- DNGS Unit 1: Is now at almost 800 days of uninterrupted generation:
Credit to @TomHess_ on twitter for the above graphic, former grid operations at Ontario Hydro.
Bruce:
- Some notable uptimes as well including 300 days for Unit 7, 320 for Unit 3 and 591 for Unit 1.
- Unit 6 is down for refurbishment, so it will be absent for the next ~2 years
- Unit 4 is down for maintenance, will be back before the summer.
- Unit 2 was just returned to service after a 2-day maintenance outage so that it can run uninterrupted during the peak summer period.
Pickering:
- Unit 4 is pushing 600 days. Pickering Unit 7 previously held the world record for uptime at 894 days which may be eclipsed by Darlington Unit 1.
- Unit 1 has been offline for quite a stint. This is a refurbished unit, I expect it will be back before the summer.
- Unit 5 continues to produce significantly above nameplate for reasons that cannot be disclosed, but demonstrate that there is some significant uprate potential if the government were to reverse the decision on not to refurbish the 4x B units. I expect 575MW is not unrealistic per unit, which is a ~60MW uprate.
- The 6 operating units produced 23.6TWh in 2019, which is a record for the site in its current configuration and puts CF at ~88%, also a record for the site. While 88% may sound low based on CF for some American sites, Pickering is one of the oldest operating nuclear power plants in the world with construction starting in 1966. Its economics were predicated on a minimum CF of ~60%, much lower than its more modern siblings.
Prior to the current pandemic reliable sources told me to expect an announcement from the province for Darlington B. That has now obviously been postponed, hopefully not indefinitely. Expectation is that there will be an MOU for DNGS B to be constructed using the first viable design to distill out of the Federal SMR program running at Chalk River. DNGS B will be the first commercial SMR project in Canada most likely. The 2nd will be something at Point Lepreau in New Brunswick is my bet.
Darlington:
- DNGS Unit 2 refurbishment: Construction is 100% done, so the unit will now go through hot testing then brought back into service for the next 35-40+ years.
- DNGS Unit 3 refurbishment: Turn-down has been postponed due to the current pandemic, so the unit continues to operate. Unit 2 may be back online before Unit 3 goes down now and so DNGS may have 4x units operating again for a period.
- DNGS Unit 1: Is now at almost 800 days of uninterrupted generation:
Credit to @TomHess_ on twitter for the above graphic, former grid operations at Ontario Hydro.
Bruce:
- Some notable uptimes as well including 300 days for Unit 7, 320 for Unit 3 and 591 for Unit 1.
- Unit 6 is down for refurbishment, so it will be absent for the next ~2 years
- Unit 4 is down for maintenance, will be back before the summer.
- Unit 2 was just returned to service after a 2-day maintenance outage so that it can run uninterrupted during the peak summer period.
Pickering:
- Unit 4 is pushing 600 days. Pickering Unit 7 previously held the world record for uptime at 894 days which may be eclipsed by Darlington Unit 1.
- Unit 1 has been offline for quite a stint. This is a refurbished unit, I expect it will be back before the summer.
- Unit 5 continues to produce significantly above nameplate for reasons that cannot be disclosed, but demonstrate that there is some significant uprate potential if the government were to reverse the decision on not to refurbish the 4x B units. I expect 575MW is not unrealistic per unit, which is a ~60MW uprate.
- The 6 operating units produced 23.6TWh in 2019, which is a record for the site in its current configuration and puts CF at ~88%, also a record for the site. While 88% may sound low based on CF for some American sites, Pickering is one of the oldest operating nuclear power plants in the world with construction starting in 1966. Its economics were predicated on a minimum CF of ~60%, much lower than its more modern siblings.
Prior to the current pandemic reliable sources told me to expect an announcement from the province for Darlington B. That has now obviously been postponed, hopefully not indefinitely. Expectation is that there will be an MOU for DNGS B to be constructed using the first viable design to distill out of the Federal SMR program running at Chalk River. DNGS B will be the first commercial SMR project in Canada most likely. The 2nd will be something at Point Lepreau in New Brunswick is my bet.