Contract awarded for first Bruce steam generators

Tuesday, 12 July 2016

BWX Technologies subsidiary BWXT Canada Ltd is to manufacture and deliver eight steam generators for Bruce B unit 6 under a CDN 130 million ($100 million) contract with Bruce Power.

The  Bruce site (Image: Bruce Power)

The contract, announced yesterday, is the first to follow a memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies in December 2015 after the government of Ontario announced that an incremental operating period extension would go ahead at Bruce. Under that memorandum, BWXT will design and manufacture all 32 steam generators needed for the eventual refurbishment of six Candu reactors at the Bruce site.

The steam generators will be manufactured by Cambridge, Ontario-based BWXT Canada and shipped to the Bruce site in 2020, when unit 6 will go off line for refurbishment.

BWXT Canada has supplied all the steam generators installed at the Bruce nuclear power station since it went online in 1977 and Kevin Kelly, Bruce Power's chief financial officer and acting president, said the two companies shared a long history. "The steam generator replacement program is integral to our refurbishment … I look forward to continued success as we work together to enhance Ontario’s energy infrastructure," he said.

The Bruce nuclear power plant comprises eight Candu units - Bruce A units 1-4 and Bruce B units 5-8. Units 3-8 are to be refurbished in an incremental project starting in 2020 and spanning 13 years, costing an estimated CDN 8 billion. An additional CDN 5 billion will be spent on related work from 2016 to 2053. Bruce B unit 6 will be the first to undergo refurbishment, starting in January 2020. Bruce A units 1 and 2 have already undergone refurbishment, completed in 2012.

The multi-year investment program is underpinned by a December 2015 agreement between Bruce Power and Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator to secure 6300 MW of electrical capacity at the Bruce site.

Researched and written
by World Nuclear News