July 31, 2012

Westinghouse Electric prepares construction plans for Darlington, Ontario nuclear reactors

Westinghouse Electric Company of Pittsburgh recently announced it plans to prepare detailed construction plans for potential nuclear reactors in Darlington, Ontario.

"Should the Province select our AP1000 as the preferred option, we believe that Ontario's infrastructure could become even more energy self-sufficient, creating local Canadian jobs during construction and opportunities for involving Canadian suppliers on this and future nuclear projects elsewhere in the world,” Westinghouse Americas president Joe Zwetolitz stated in a July 23 press release.

The firm plans to open an office in Toronto and to prepare plans, schedules and cost estimates for two AP1000 units.

Originally founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse, the firm was acquired by British Nuclear Fuels PLC in 1999 and sold in 2006 to a consortium led by Toshiba.

In February, 2011, the Ontario Minister of Energy directed the Ontario Power Authority to "plan for nuclear generation to comprise about 50 per cent of total Ontario electricity generation." That plan includes the refurbishment of 10 Gigawatts of capacity at the Bruce and Darlington nuclear generating stations as well as the procurement of two new nuclear generating units at Darlington.

Ontario Power Generation, the crown corporation that operates Darlington, plans to refurbish four nuclear reactors starting in 2016.

Preparation for the project has already begun.

McKay-Cocker Construction Ltd. of London, Ontario is working on the Darlington Energy Complex , which will be used to train staff working on the refurbishment of the reactors. The three-storey, 250,000-square-foot facility will be in the Clarington Energy Park. It will include a full-scale mockup of the reactor, a public information centre, security processing centre and a tooling and testing facility.

The Darlington Retube and Feeder Replacement Project will be done by a joint venture comprised of Aecon Group Inc. and SNC-Lavalin Group Inc . That project alone is expected to generate $600 million for the joint venture, according to an Aecon announcement last February. The definition phase is expected to last from this year until 2016, when Aecon will build a full-scale mockup while SNC-Lavalin will develop specialized tooling. The execution phase is expected to take place from 2016 until 2023.

The Aecon-SNC-Lavalin joint venture will develop a detailed scope, schedule and budget for the execution phase and procure critical reactor components for the first unit to be refurbished.

In its press release Monday, Westinghouse Electric stated if the AP1000 is selected, “a large percentage of the scope for the potential construction … would be sourced from Ontario or elsewhere in Canada.”

DCN DIGITAL MEDIA

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