Ontario Construction News staff writer
Bruce Power’s Unit 6 Major Component Replacement (MCR), Ontario’s largest clean-energy infrastructure project, reached a major milestone Oct. 25 with completion of fuel channel assembly installation.
Installation was completed by the Unit 6 MCR construction team and Shoreline Power Group, a joint venture between Aecon, SNC-Lavalin and United Engineers & Constructors, that will also replace fuel channels and feeders for the Unit 3 MCR.
Work will be funded completely by Bruce Power and is scheduled to continue on successive units based on “safety, quality, cost and overall performance”.
“Our members take great pride in our partnership with Bruce Power to help provide the people of Ontario with safe, reliable and carbon-free nuclear power,” said Marc Arsenault, business manager and secretary-treasurer of the Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario. “We are committed to leveraging our knowledge, skills and experience to help make sure that these projects are completed safely and successfully.”
The installation of 480 fuel channels in the Unit 6 reactor core puts Bruce Power on track to complete its first of six MCR outages.
“The fuel channel installation took a lot of teamwork and this sets us up for not only the successful completion of the Unit 6 MCR project next year, but also for our subsequent MCR outages over the next decade,” said Eric Chassard, Bruce Power Executive Vice-President, Projects and Engineering. “We’re making huge investments into our site to continue to provide reliable, carbon-free electricity for decades to come while also stimulating Ontario’s economy.”
This privately funded investment into Units 3-8 will extend the life of the Bruce Power site through 2064.
“Bruce Power’s Life-Extension Program and Major Component Replacement Project are securing decades of clean power to grow and electrify our economy while also creating and sustaining good-paying jobs in Ontario,” said Todd Smith, Ontario’s Minister of Energy. “The world is watching Ontario, and the continued on-time and on-budget delivery of life extension at Bruce Power is a demonstration of the incredible skill of Ontario’s world-class nuclear operators.”
The Bruce Power refurbishment project will generate billions in annual economic benefits in communities throughout the province and support about 22,000 jobs annually.
The Unit 3 MCR project is scheduled to begin next March and will build off successes of Unit 6, which is set to return to service in 2023.