Bruce Power's Unit 3 has now been in service for 45 years, as the nuclear power unit began providing reliable power back in 1978. Unit 3 will get new life as the final preparations are underway to take the unit offline March 1, for a major component replacement.
Bruce Power's Life-Extension program is one of Canada’s largest private-sector clean-energy projects, which will help Ontario and Canada achieve their Net Zero targets. Unit 3 established set a record of 404 continuous days online in 2020.
“It’s an exciting time for Bruce Power as we celebrate the contributions of our site in producing 30 per cent of the province’s safe, reliable and clean electricity for several decades,” said Bruce Power President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Rencheck. “And it’s exciting that we’re renewing our units to be able to continue to produce that baseload of clean energy for the province for decades to come, as well as supply the world market with a stable supply of cancer-fighting medical isotopes.”
The Unit 3 MCR outage begins as Unit 6, the first Bruce Power unit to undergo its MCR outage, is on plan to be returned to service late this year. The Unit 3 project will build on lessons learned and innovations during the Unit 6 MCR to deliver the subsequent MCR outages more efficiently in terms of schedule and cost.
"We’re leveraging innovative new technology with proven best-practices and industry expertise to enable improved performance and efficiency while maintaining the highest standard in safety and quality in our refurbishment programs, allowing our Life-Extension Program to play a huge role in the clean-energy future of Ontario,” said Eric Chassard, Executive Vice-President of Projects and Engineering at Bruce Power.
The privately funded refurbishment of Units 3 to 8 will help Bruce Power provide energy and isotopes through 2064. The project is creating an additional 5,000 direct and indirect jobs annually throughout the refurbishment program and contributes approximately $4 billion in annual economic benefits in communities throughout the province and particularly in Midwestern Ontario.