Bruce Power’s Life-Extension Program and Major Component Replacement (MCR) project reached a key milestone earlier this month with the start of removal and replacement work on the nuclear facility’s Unit 4.

The unit was taken offline in February to begin a three-year refurbishment. The removal and replacement of major CANDU reactor components includes 480 fuel channels, 960 feeder tubes, eight steam generators, and many other upgrades that will allow Bruce Power to return Unit 4 to service with new reactor components to supply clean energy to the province as demand rises in the decades to come.

Bruce Power’s Life-Extension Program, which is scheduled to be completed in 2033, is the largest private-sector investment in Canada’s nuclear industry and generation infrastructure.

“Along with our partners and skilled tradespeople, we’re seeing excellent performance as we complete each MCR outage safely, on plan, and to a high-quality standard,” said Eric Chassard, Bruce Power’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Together, we’re working to return these units to service safely and successfully to meet Ontario’s clean energy needs and provide cancer-fighting medical isotopes for patients around the world for decades to come.”

Shoreline, a joint venture between Aecon and Candu Energy, an AtkinsRéalis subsidiary, will begin the Fuel Channel Feeder Replacement program, which sees the removal and replacement of pressure tubes, calandria tubes, and feeders inside the reactor. Skilled tradespeople are using innovative robotic tooling from ATS Automation to improve performance and safety in each successive MCR outage.

“Shoreline and our skilled tradespeople are proud to partner with Bruce Power to deliver these refurbishment outages safely, on time and with quality performance to help power Ontario well into the future,” said Jean-Louis Servranckx, President and CEO of Aecon, on behalf of Shoreline Power Group. “We’re leveraging experience and innovation as our highly trained tradespeople and multidisciplinary teams continue to drive our successful project execution.”

Bruce Power’s refurbishment is Ontario’s largest clean-energy infrastructure project and is unique in that it’s being funded through private investment.

Bruce Power is currently capable of producing 6,550 megawatts (MW) of peak clean energy and aims to increase output to 7,000 MW in the 2030s, following the completion of the MCR program and other Life-Extension projects.

The program and ongoing site operations create and sustain 22,000 direct and indirect jobs annually and contribute approximately $4 billion in annual economic benefits in communities throughout the province, particularly here in the Clean Energy Frontier region of Bruce, Grey and Huron counties.