Bruce B Unit 6 taken offline following transformer fire
TIVERTON, ONTARIO - Unit 6 at the Bruce B generating station was safely shut down recently following a transformer fire outside the generating station.
No one was injured by the fire, which was extinguished quickly by an automatic sprinkler system as per design. As a result of the event, which occurred on the non-nuclear side of the plant, some insulating oil has entered Lake Huron, likely through a storm drain. The insulating oil contains no PCBs or radioactive material and consists primarily of mineral oil. Bruce Power crews plugged the drain and set up a boom in the station's outflow to contain the material, which formed a thin sheen on the surface of the water.
Bruce Power officials have reported the event to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission as required and Hydro One maintenance crews have also been called in to replace the transformer. It is not yet known how long Unit 6 will remain offline.
Units 3, 5, 7 and 8 remain at high power while the planned inspection on Unit 4 that began March 12 continues.
Related News
Smaller, cheaper, safer: Next-gen nuclear power, explained
WASHINGTON - Inside the Transient Reactor Test Facility, a towering, windowless gray block surrounded by barbed wire, researchers are about to embark on a mission to solve one of humanity’s greatest problems with a tiny device.
Next year, they will begin construction on the MARVEL reactor. MARVEL stands for Microreactor Applications Research Validation and EvaLuation. It’s a first-of-a-kind nuclear power generator, cooled with liquid metal and producing 100 kilowatts of energy. By 2024, researchers expect MARVEL to be the zero-emissions engine of the world’s first nuclear microgrid at Idaho National Laboratory (INL).
“Micro” and “tiny,” of course, are relative. MARVEL stands 15…
