Pickering Unit Cleared For Restart

Toronto, ON -- - Canada's nuclear industry regulator has given Ontario Power Generation Inc. clearance to start activating one of four units at the Pickering A nuclear generating station.

That means Pickering A, mothballed since 1997, is on track to deliver power to Ontario homes and businesses by the end of June, company spokesperson John Earl said yesterday.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission says it has given OPG clearance to remove Pickering A from what is known as a "guaranteed shutdown state," in which it is impossible for the reactor to work. The decision will allow OPG to bring Unit 4 at Pickering up to 1 per cent of its maximum power.

That's an important step, Earl said, because it allows the company to start commissioning nuclear systems at the unit. Until now, with the reactor cold, OPG has been able to commission only mechanical systems.

OPG must still demonstrate to the commission that all systems are working properly before it's allowed to bring the reactor up to full power.

"We're still on that schedule that says by the end of June we will have significant energy going from Unit 4 into the grid," Earl said. He would not guarantee that the unit will be delivering at its full power of 515 megawatts by that date.

The latest permission granted by the nuclear regulator still means Pickering A is on a tight schedule. At one point, OPG said that removing the guaranteed shutdown state would be accomplished by the end of March; it has now been accomplished five weeks later than planned.

Pickering A's return to service has been controversial.

After the unit was mothballed in 1997, OPG began laying plans the following year to bring it back to service.

Initial estimates put the cost of returning all four units to service at $800 million to $900 million, but the first detailed costing approved by OPG's board placed the cost at $1.3 billion.

The cost has continued to balloon since then, with the price tag on returning all four units to service now estimated at $2.5 billion.

Returning Unit 4 to service for the summer, when demand for electricity soars, is important to keeping Ontario supplied with power.

The province teetered on the verge of blackouts last year, but the provincial government has said supplies will be better this year, partly because of Pickering A's return to service.

The province also is counting on the return of two formerly mothballed nuclear units operated by Bruce Power at the generating station it leases from OPG near Kincardine. Bruce Power says the first of those two units should be delivering power by the end of this month.