Rotor replacements for Bruce units
11 September 2013
Bruce Power is investing CAD430 million ($416 million) in replacing the turbine generator rotors at the recently refurbished units 2 and 3 of the Bruce A nuclear power plant in Ontario.
.jpg "Bruce A 2 turbine hall (Bruce Power)") |
| The turbine hall of Bruce A unit 2 (Image: Bruce Power) |
Six low-pressure turbine generator rotors - each weighing some 62 tonnes - have been delivered via barges to the Bruce A plant. They will be installed in units 2 and 3 during future scheduled outages.
Bruce Power said that the new turbines will add 40 years of life to the generators in the units. Replacement rotors, it said, were recently installed in units 1 and 4.
Four reactors at Bruce A were mothballed in the late 1990s after about 20 years of operation only to be recalled in the early 2000s by Bruce Power and the government of Ontario, which was facing power shortages and hoping to phase out coal generation.
A refurbishment project followed, with Bruce A 3 and 4 brought back into operation by 2004, and units 1 and 2 following in 2012.
Bruce Power's vice president for project management and construction Jeff Phelps said, "By investing another CAD430 million into Bruce A, we are renewing our commitment to be the most trusted provider of carbon-free electricity in the province." He added that the work would enable the units to continue to perform "admirably" and help the government of Ontario to reach its goal of closing the province's coal plants.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News