Hydro-Quebec Move to refurbish Gentilly-2 could benefit province's growing energy hub

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DAVID SHIPLEY
Telegraph-Journal

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Hydro-Quebec decision to refurbish its only nuclear reactor may yield benefits to New Brunswick.

The Quebec electricity utility will spend $1.9 billion to extend the life of the aging Gentilly 2 Candu 6 nuclear reactor to 2040.

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) and General Electric were both awarded fixed-priced contracts for the refurbishment.

Closing the plant down would have cost $1.6 billion.

Tim Curry, president of the Atlantica Centre for Energy in Saint John, said the Quebec announcement could have benefits for the Port City as it seeks to become an energy hub.

Curry noted that AECL has set up a Centre of Excellence in Retubing in Saint John as part of the refurbishment project at Point Lepreau.

"They've got 200 people working at the old shipyard property and I would think those people would be doing things that would be applicable the Gentilly site and the one in Argentina."

Heather MacLean, spokeswoman for NB Power, said the provincial power utility welcomed the Gentilly refurbishment announcement.

"Certainly having other stations like ourselves running and refurbished is good news," she said.

MacLean noted that staff from Hydro-Quebec have been to the Point Lepreau refurbishment in order to learn from NB Power's experiences.

"We've worked very closely with them and we still have people from Hydro-Quebec on site."

Gentilly-2 is located on the shores of the St-Lawrence River, about halfway between Montreal and Quebec City. It is considered to by the twin of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station in New Brunswick

The refurbishments of Gentilly 2 and Point Lepreau are part of the resurgence of the Canadian nuclear industry.

Ontario is in the midst of expanding its nuclear network, already the most extensive in Canada, with two new reactors to be built at the Darlington nuclear generating station east of Toronto by 2018.The province has asked three companies - AECL, Areva NP of France, and Westinghouse, a U.S.-Japanese joint venture - to submit bids to build the reactors by the end of the year.

In Alberta, the Bruce Power partnership, which already operates a nuclear plant in southwestern Ontario, is proposing to build a nuclear generating station in the Peace River region.

A private sector consortium that includes AECL, General Electric and Hitachi, among others, is exploring the feasibility of a second nuclear reactor in New Brunswick that would be financed and built by the private sector.

Energy Minister Jack Keir said the completion of the refurbishment of Point Lepreau on time and on budget will leave the utility with valuable experience that it may be able to sell to others who are looking at refurbishing their Candu reactors.

"I think it is good news when any reactor says they're going to refurbish," he said.

"I think more importantly it shows the nuclear renaissance is on."

- With files from the Canadian Press.