Province opens bidding process for two new reactors
Mar 08, 2008 - 09:43 AM
Kim Downey
DURHAM -- The Province has moved a step closer to adding two new nuclear reactors to its nuclear power generation sites.
Darlington Generating Station near Bowmanville is one of two sites the province is considering in its plan to bring on two replacement nuclear reactors considered the largest and most complex the province has ever seen.
Bruce Power near Kincardine is also being eyed as the potential site for the mega-project.
Minister of Energy Gerry Phillips outlined Friday a two-phase competitive Request For Proposal (RFP) process to select a nuclear reactor vendor from among four firms including one Canadian company.
“From Ontario Power Generation (OPG)’s perspective we are very pleased to hear the government has initiated the process,” said John Earl, an OPG spokesman.
The announcement is the next step in the government’s 20-year energy plan, first announced in June 2006. The existing power plants have the capacity to provide 14,000 megawatts capacity but currently operate at only 11,500 because some units are not operating.
Darlington currently has four nuclear reactors compared to Bruce Power’s six. Pickering Generating Station is OPG’s only other nuclear power plant site and has six units in operation.
Sylvia Kovesfvalvi, a spokeswoman with the Ministry, said the province hopes to have the winning vendor and a negotiated deal reached by the end of the year. It’s not known when the site will be selected.
“The expectation is we will break ground in 2012 and it’s expected to begin generating power in 2018,” said Ms. Kovesfvalvi.
“It will be one of the largest, most complex projects of its kind.”
Darlington has never had its reactors refurbished but Bruce has two units currently being refurbished. Bruce and Pickering have both had units refurbished in the past. The Darlington units came into service between 1989 and 1993, and have not reached the stage when major refurbishment such as retubing may be required, said Ms. Kovesfval.
Earlier this month, Darlington received a second consecutive five-year operating licence from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
Four internationally recognized vendors will be invited to participate in the first phase of the proposal process:
- AREVA NP - US Evolutionary Pressurized Reactor
- Atomic Energy of Canada Limited - ACR 1000 Advanced CANDU Reactor
- GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy - Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor
- Westinghouse Electric Company - AP 1000(TM) nuclear power plant
There are four CANDU reactors that operated at almost 90 per cent capacity in 2007 at the plant. Darlington’s existing reactors provided about 17 per cent of the province’s electricity.
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