 Bruce A at sunrise. Courtesy of BrucePower |
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 For Bruce Power, the return of Unit 3 marked the end of our Bruce A restart project and the culmination of two years of work for our team of more than 1,100 employees and contractors, including those from the Acres-Sargent & Lundy-Fox joint venture. |
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Coming just three months after the return to service of Unit 4, the resurrection of the 750-MW Unit 3 also marked the first time any company was able to restart two CANDU units in such quick succession.
| For Ontario, the success of the Bruce A restart meant the return of 1,500 MW of badly needed electricity the province lost when the station was laid up by the site’s previous operators in 1998.
Along the way, we faced many challenges. But we never expected it to be easy. Long before the first wrench was ever turned, we had conducted the most comprehensive assessment ever done on a CANDU station. Based on the results of that $30 million examination, we knew that converting Bruce A from a silent shell of untapped potential into a working powerhouse was going to be complex. What followed was a marvelous feat of engineering that required our multi-disciplined teams to review and upgrade a myriad of systems, including the station's safety, fire and |
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 Courtesy of BrucePower |
seismic requirements. Over the life of the project, they built an entirely new secondary control area, installed an intricate backup emergency power system and tied them both into the existing station systems. Collectively, they worked more than five million hours, pulled more than 60 kilometers of cable and made more than 200,000 electrical connections. Following the tragic acts of terrorism that hit the United States on September 11, 2001, our consultants dealt with an increased project scope since every Canadian nuclear facility now required major security enhancements as mandated by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
Through it all, the restart team never lost sight of its goal. Of course, success can be a powerful cleanser, for it tends to wash away the frustrations that always accompany complex and lengthy projects. We didn't make our stretch target of having Bruce A back online for last summer. However, we take a lot of satisfaction in having restored and tested these units so thoroughly.
Since Unit 4 has come to full power, it's been an extremely reliable unit that's helped Ontario through some very frigid months this winter. Thanks to the skillful work of our combined restart team, we have every confidence that Unit 3 will follow suit.
For further information, please contact:
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Duncan Hawthorne, CEO Bruce Power, Tiverton, ON 519-361-2673 duncan.hawthorne@brucepower.com
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