OPG continues preparing for Ontario’s next major nuclear refurbishment at Pickering Nuclear
At a glance
- OPG and its project partners are making strides to prepare for the refurbishment of Pickering Nuclear’s Units 5 to 8, kicking off next year.
- Ongoing activities include construction of new facilities and mock-up structures to help train workers, as well as the production of key components.
- Pickering Nuclear’s refurbishment will help secure more than 2,000 megawatts of power for Ontario’s future, enough to power about 2 million homes.
OPG continues to prepare for Ontario’s next major nuclear refurbishment at Pickering Nuclear.
The renewal of the station’s Units 5 to 8 will begin early next year, starting with Unit 5, pending regulatory approval. All four units are set to be taken offline in September, marking the end of one storied chapter and the beginning of a new one for Ontario’s clean energy future.
On the ground, the project team continues to progress construction of a new 200,000-square-foot Retube Feeder and Boiler Replacement Training and Mock-up facility, set to be completed in December. Like the full-scale reactor mock-up facility that trained workers for OPG’s ahead-of-schedule, under-budget Darlington Refurbishment project, this hub will be critical to training more than 2,800 skilled trades staff ahead of refurbishment activities.
The new facility will feature detailed mock-ups of the Pickering reactor design and its components. It will also provide a training mock-up of Pickering’s lower boiler assembly, a unique aspect to this refurbishment.
Gallery: Preparing for Pickering Refurbishment
The project team is also advancing the construction of other buildings to support the project, including the Common Services Building, a two-storey, 38,000-square-foot modular building that will be used by vendor partners.
Modular fabrication is helping the team work faster and more efficiently, while meeting the unique requirements of building in a highly controlled environment.
At the Darlington Energy Complex, another mock-up structure is being constructed to help workers rehearse what will be one of the project’s significant milestones – cutting into the top of the reactor dome to remove and replace 48 of the station’s existing steam generators.
To prepare for this work, OPG has partnered with CanAtom to build a full-scale dome mock-up. The structure – a curved, elevated concrete slab measuring approximately 45 by 60 feet and rising nearly 40 feet above grade – is designed to closely replicate a section of the reactor building dome.
Meanwhile, the project’s supply partners are progressing the fabrication, machining, and assembly of the key components needed to execute a nuclear unit refurbishment. This includes BWXT Canada, which is currently putting together heavy-duty steel vessels that will make up Pickering’s new steam generators, as well as ATS Industrial Automation, which is developing several specialized tools for the removal, inspection, and re-installation of fuel channels at Pickering Nuclear.
All of this work is helping OPG prepare to execute this major refurbishment on schedule and on budget. The project team is also leveraging and applying the training methods, best practices, and more than 8,000 lessons gained from OPG’s Darlington Refurbishment, which was completed in March.
Once completed, a refurbished Pickering Nuclear will secure 2,100 megawatts of clean, reliable power for another 30-plus years to help meet Ontario’s forecasted increase in energy demand and support its economic growth. That’s enough electricity to continue powering the equivalent of more than 2 million homes.
Pickering’s refurbishment will also grow the province’s robust nuclear supply chain, create and sustain thousands of jobs, and generate widespread economic benefits for Durham Region, Ontario, and Canada.
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