Bruce Power has reached another major milestone in its Life-Extension Program, with work on Unit 4 now entering the removal and replacement phase of its three-year refurbishment.
Unit 4 was taken offline in February, and the project now moves into the complex process of replacing major CANDU reactor components, including 480 fuel channels, 960 feeder tubes, eight steam generators, and numerous other upgrades. Once completed, the refurbished unit will return to service with new components, supplying clean energy to Ontario for decades to come.
The Unit 4 refurbishment builds on the success of Bruce Power’s first completed Major Component Replacement (MCR) on Unit 6 and ongoing progress with Unit 3, which is on track to return to service in 2026.
“Along with our partners and skilled tradespeople, we’re seeing excellent performance as we complete each MCR outage safely, on plan, and to a high-quality standard,” said Eric Chassard, Bruce Power’s President and CEO. “Together, we’re working to return these units to service safely and successfully to meet Ontario’s clean energy needs and provide cancer-fighting medical isotopes for patients around the world for decades to come.”
Among the achievements in the Unit 4 lead-in were the ahead-of-schedule installation of 16 eight-tonne bulkheads and the fastest defuel in CANDU history.
Shoreline Power Group, a joint venture between Aecon and Candu Energy (an AtkinsRéalis company), will lead the Fuel Channel Feeder Replacement program, supported by skilled tradespeople and robotic tooling innovations from ATS Automation.
“Shoreline and our skilled tradespeople are proud to partner with Bruce Power to deliver these refurbishment outages safely, on time and with quality performance to help power Ontario well into the future,” said Jean-Louis Servranckx, President and CEO of Aecon, on behalf of Shoreline.
The multi-year Life-Extension Program, which will run through 2033, is the largest private-sector investment in Canada’s nuclear industry. Bruce Power currently produces 6,550 megawatts (MW) of peak clean energy and expects to increase output to 7,000 MW in the 2030s once refurbishment is complete.
In addition to securing Ontario’s clean energy future, the project sustains 22,000 direct and indirect jobs annually and generates about $4 billion in annual economic benefits, particularly across Bruce, Grey, and Huron counties.