OPG’s Darlington Refurbishment Project achieves major milestone

In October 2016, OPG and its project partners began execution of the Darlington refurbishment project. Following more than three years of work on Darlington Unit 2, the project team successfully completed the unit's refurbishment and returned it to commercial service in June 2020, amid the unexpected challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, OPG postponed the commencement of the Unit 3 refurbishment from its scheduled start in May 2020. Now that the Unit 3 reactor has been safely shut down and disconnected from Ontario’s electricity grid, workers will use remote-controlled tooling to remove 6,240 fuel bundles from the unit over the next three months and place them in water-filled fuel bays for up to 10 years of safe storage.

Since the start of the project, OPG workers have completed more than 24 million hours of work safely and with quality. The team has also completed more than 750,000 hours of training in the world-class Mock-up and Training Facility located at OPG’s Darlington Energy Complex. As well, the team has incorporated more than 4,000 lessons learned from Unit 2 refurbishment into the plans and preparations for Unit 3 and subsequent unit refurbishments, increasing efficiencies across the project.

Refurbishing the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, one of Canada’s largest clean energy infrastructure projects, is critical in the province’s efforts to combat climate change. An independent report prepared by Intrinsik Environmental Sciences noted the continued operation of the refurbished station to 2055 will equal removing two million cars per year from Ontario’s roads by avoiding significant greenhouse gas emissions.

The 10-year refurbishment project is expected to generate a total of nearly $90 billion in economic benefits for Ontario and increase employment by an average of 14,200 jobs annually across the province. The four-unit station currently generates over 20 per cent of Ontario’s electricity, or enough energy to power two million homes.

The Darlington refurbishment project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2026. Overall, the project continues to remain on time and on budget.

Learn more about the Darlington Nuclear Refurbishment Project.

OPG is the largest electricity generator in the province, providing almost half of the power Ontarians rely on every day. It is also one of the most diverse generators in North America, with expertise in nuclear, hydroelectric, biomass, solar and natural gas technologies.