France’s Framatome has been awarded a contract to provide full system decontamination at Canada’s Bruce Power units 3&4 as part of their Major Component Replacement (MCR) project. Adapting unique chemical decontamination technology developed globally, Framatome will localise it for use by its Canadian teams in the Candu reactors. The chemical process is undergoing qualification at Canadian Nuclear Labs, with current results yielding excellent results for decontamination factors, Framatome said.
Full system decontamination using this optimised chemical process will be performed prior to refurbishment activities on-site at Units 3 and 4 in Tiverton, Ontario, significantly mitigating the dose and enhancing safety when accessing the units.
The full system decontamination project is currently in the design and procurement phase, with expected deployment at unit 3 in April 2023 and at unit 4 in August 2024. To date, Framatome teams have performed the conceptual and preliminary engineering phase in support of the project. This latest contract awards the remaining detailed engineering work, which is fully supported using Framatome’s Canadian engineering resources.
The MCR project for Bruce 3&4 will add 30-35 years of operational life, while other investments will add a combined 30 years of operational life to the units.
Image: The Bruce nuclear power plant (photo courtesy of Bruce Power)
