Curtiss-Wright establishes facility in Newmarket to support Darlington Refurb

Curtiss-Wright has been supporting the nuclear industry in Canada since 1980, but it was only shortly after Ontario Power Generation confirmed plans to refurbish its reactors at Darlington Nuclear that the international company established a division in Newmarket to better serve its clients.

“We established a facility in Newmarket almost five years ago to provide localized service in support of the refurbishment projects coming underway here in the province,” says Chris Mitchell, Business Segment Director at Curtiss-Wright Nuclear Canada.

Curtiss-Wright supports OPG’s Darlington Refurbishment project in two ways: it provides testing to ensure that new safety related equipment and components being installed at the station meet seismic and environmental qualifications; and it qualifies commercial grade components to certify them as nuclear grade, thereby ensuring they meet rigorous industry standards.

The company recently secured a $2.5-million contract to supply and test nuclear grade valves that will be used in the refurbishment.

“Not all manufacturers do the testing required for the nuclear industry,” says Mitchell. “We have checks and balances in place, so OPG knows our testing is done in accordance with nuclear quality assurance requirements to nationally traceable standards, which are over and above what almost all non-nuclear companies require.”

With 55 years of experience supporting the industry in both the U.S and Canada, Curtiss-Wright has established a strong reputation for offering a comprehensive range of products and services that help sustain the safe and reliable operation of nuclear plants throughout the world.

“In addition to supporting OPG directly, we work with other organizations providing components to the refurbishment project. We do quality testing on those components to ensure they’re also ready for installation in the station,” says Mitchell.

Beyond Darlington Refurbishment, Curtiss-Wright has worked with OPG on Darlington site safety and infrastructure projects.

Curtiss-Wright supplied OPG with several systems used in the EPG3 (third emergency power generator) building, including two 6,000-pound missile barrier doors that open into the generator room. The doors are designed to resist wind-driven flying objects, such as telephone poles.

“In the big picture, the Darlington Refurbishment project is certainly a flagship opportunity for Curtiss-Wright,” Mitchell says. “On a micro-level, the project has given us the opportunity to learn and improve our processes by working with a large, complex organization like OPG.

“We’ve transitioned a lot in the last five years, and that’s in large part because of our work on the Darlington Refurbishment project.”