Bruce awards B&W steam generator contract
Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) has been awarded a contract by Bruce Power for the supply of eight replacement steam generators for unit 3 of the Bruce A nuclear power plant in Canada.
The contract is valued at over C$90 million ($85 million). The replacement steam generators - which each weigh more than 100 tonnes and stand some 12 metres high - will be installed in unit 3 as part of the ongoing, C$4.25 billion ($4 billion) Bruce A Restart and Refurbishment project.
Bruce Power and B&W signed a similar contract in 2005 for the supply of 16 replacement steam generators for units 1 and 2 of Bruce A. To date, four of those generators have been installed in unit 2. B&W supplied the original Bruce A steam generators more than 30 years ago. The company will manufacture the replacement steam generators at its plant in Cambridge, Ontario, using Alloy 800 tubes and employing design enhancements.
Facing an impending power shortage, the Ontario government in October 2005 agreed with Bruce Power to refurbish its four oldest reactors - collectively known as Bruce A, each 769 MWe - rather than the longer process of building new ones to replace them.
Bruce units 1 and 2 started commercial operation in 1977. Unit 2 was shut down in 1995 due to a maintenance accident in which lead contaminated the core. Unit 1 was laid up with another six units at the end of 1997 to allow operational focus on newer plants. Both are now having their fuel channels and generators replaced and ancillary systems upgraded to current standards, giving them a further 25-year life from 2009-10 when they restart. Unit 3 will then have its fuel channels and steam generators replaced, giving it another 25 years operation. It is planned to shut down unit 4 at the end of 2017, unless it is refurbished by then.
Possible Bruce B refurbishment is envisaged from 2014.
Further information
WNA's Canada's Uranium Production & Nuclear Powerinformation paper