Now that all of the calandria tubes have been removed from the Unit 1 reactor at the Bruce nuclear generating station, the restart work can move ahead.
Bruce Power officials continue work to get both Units 1 and Unit 2 at Bruce A ready to be restarted.
Bruce Power CEO Duncan Hawthorne says the next step involves a manual rebuild of the inside of the reactor which will still involve the expertise of boiler makers and millwrights, but not as much on the remote-control robotic tools that were used to removed the old radioactive tubes.
Those tools are currently being used to brush out the chambers so the new tubes can be installed.
The project is a first in the nuclear industry, and reporters from across the region had the opportunity to do what very few members of the public get to do, go inside the reactor vault and see the work being done.
The reactors have been decontaminated to levels clean enough for people to go inside them wearing only minimal protective equipment.
Senior Vice President of the Bruce A Restart Project, John Sauger, says they’re counting on the skilled tradespeople to install the new tubes with perfect precision. He says some of the best millwrights and boiler makers in the world are in Ontario and this is there chance to show what they’re capable of.
Sauger says all of the new tubes will be inserted manually, without the help of computer technology.
The restart work is being administered by Atomic Energy of Canada.
Senior Vice President of Operations, Michael Ingram says the crown corporation appreciates Bruce Power’s entrepreneurial spirit by being the first to ever undertake a project of this kind and they’re doing their best to deliver good results and gain experience for the future.
Duncan Hawthorne says there are a lot of lessons to be learned for the industry through the project
He says Bruce Power has borne a lot of the risk involved with the effort and believes the industry will be smarter as a whole because of what is taking place.
International media are also paying attention to the Bruce A restart work. A crew from The Discovery Channel in Britain is making a documentary about the project.
Bruce Power hopes to bring Units 1 and 2 of the A station back on line next year.
When they’re up and running again, they will generate 15-hundred megawatts of electricity.