Ontario Power Generation's Darlington Unit 2 Enters Maintenance Outage

CLARINGTON, ONTARIO - Ontario Power Generation (OPG) took Darlington Nuclear Unit 2 off-line, beginning a planned maintenance outage expected to last into early May.

"Our main focus of this outage will be inspections and maintenance of both nuclear and non-nuclear components," said Gregory Smith, senior vice- president Darlington Nuclear. "At regular intervals we take units off-line to inspect, maintain and upgrade various components to ensure the continued safe operation of the plant."

Prior to the outage, Unit 2 had been operating for 403 continuous days and produced 8.03 TWh(1) of electricity. As of the end of February the unit's year to date performance had been near perfect, having operated at 99.8 per cent capability factor. During that time the unit produced 1.24 TWh of electricity - enough electricity to run a city close to the size of Oshawa for about a year. The Unit has a rated capacity of 935 megawatts.

"Spring outages are important because they allow us to conduct inspections as well as do maintenance in advance of the heavy electricity demands of the summer," added Smith. "During this maintenance period we will be completing a reactor side inspection program as well as maintenance and repair work. On the conventional side of the station inspections and maintenance will be conducted on the turbine/generator and boiler systems."

Ontario Power Generation Inc. is an Ontario-based electricity generation company whose principal business is the generation and sale of electricity in Ontario. Our focus is on the efficient production and sale of electricity from our generation assets, while operating in a safe, open and environmentally responsible manner.