Canada’s Bruce Power has signed a CAD40m ($29m) contract with ATS Automation Tooling Systems to support refurbishment of units 3-8 at the Bruce nuclear power plant in Ontario beginning in 2020, according to a Bruce statement on 21 December.
ATS will supply automated tooling systems to be used in the refurbishment work, including key reactor tooling systems for the removal of fuel channels in the six Candu reactor units. There is the potential for ATS to receive additional business from Bruce, the statement added.
Bruce Power said in December 2015 that the six Bruce units will be refurbished over a 13-year period, starting in 2020 with the 817MWe unit 6. Bruce said then that the six refurbishments will cost CAD8bn, in addition to CAD5bn for other life-extension activities from 2016-53. In the shorter term, from 2016 to 2020, the company will invest approximately CAD2.3bn as part of the plan.
Bruce said the refurbishment of each unit will add approximately 30-35 years of operational life, while other life-extension investments will add a combined 30 reactor years of operational life to the units, pending refurbishment.
