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www.durhamregion.com THE CANADIAN STATESMAN, APRIL 30,2003 PAGE 7 mSjmm ;• i'sZSI , „ ■. "■ - ' -X y >, . d? SSsffi fc -i Sr : ; RppsjPf- 5h :: ; -A ■ 9 77;/,v /,v pari two of a two-part series investigating investigating the Pickering A nuclear generating generating station restart and Durham's nuclear nuclear industry. For part one, visit our website at durham- region.com BY JACQUIE MCINNES Staff Writer DURHAM - The walls in the office of the senior vice-president of the Pickering Pickering A generating station hold the road map to Hie future of nuclear power in Durham Region. There, visitors find pictures of the United States nuclear power plants where the office's occupier, Bill Robinson, worked prior to coming here. He arrived in Pickering as an adviser but realized the best way to get the job done was to get in with his own hands. Mr. Robinson, who began with the company in 1998, is just one of many Americans currently leading OPG through the re-birth it hopes will result in much higher productivity, a stronger safety record and more efficient operation. operation. / , The Americans were brought in to do for the Canadian plants what they did for their own nuclear plants a decade ago - bring them to world-class standards. ! In 1997, when the first U.S. team, led by Carl Andognini, was brought in to take over management of then Ontario Hydro, production and efficiency had been on a steady decline and had slumped to all-time lows. The Ontario Hydro nuclear plants in Pickering, Bruce County and even the newest facility in Darlington were given lacklustre performance performance ratings in comparison to world standards. ! "Ontario Hydro, especially on the nuclear side of the house, had a tremendous number number of people focused focused on building," building," through the l9SOs and early 1990s, says Richard Diccrni, OPG's executive vice-president. "The focus was on building as opposed to operating. Ten years ago there was a tremendous amount of surplus surplus power and so the attention attention to capacity factors was not as important." : By 1997, the thought process had changed as the plants required longer outages for maintenance work and world- standard performance marks continued to slip. Mr. Andognini's team was called Charged to bring reactors to world-class standards in to do for CANDU what it had already done in its own country. The three- year stint of his management team is now past but the recommendations it set out for the company have charted its path since. As part of the action plan, in late 1997 the four reactors reactors at Pickering A were shut down all together while the corporation focused on improving improving its newer facilities at Pickering B and Darlington. Darlington. The Brace plant was sold off, in part to allow the new company, company, OPG, the generating generating side of the former Ontario Hydro, to focus on the other two facilities in Durham. As well, says Mr. Diccrni, the idea was to bring some new blood, through new ownership at Bruce, into Canada's nuclear industry. That plant, under its new ownership, began to undergo the same process taking place at the Durham facilities. Three Americans, including Mr. Robinson, are now at the helm at Pickering Pickering A, B and at Darlington. Each brings the knowledge gained from the U.S. experience. experience. "It's a lot easier to make the changes when you've seen them," relates Mr. Robinson. Meanwhile, the nuclear industry has successfully lobbied the government to invest in nuclear education at the university university level so Canada will have more skilled leaders of its own, says Mr. Robinson, noting that, in part, is the genesis genesis of the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Three years after Mr. Andognini's team left, its plans have proven to be overly-optimistic in terms of timeframes and cost estimations. The growing pains of their recommendations have prompted word from the Province it is going to undertake undertake a full inquiry to determine why costs ballooned to two-and-a-half times initial preliminary estimates and why a A breakdown of Pickering A DURHAM - It isn't brand new but Pickering A of 2003 is a very different animal animal to the one closed down in 1997. , When it becomes fully operational this summer Pickering A is expected to be "as good as Darlington", the newest, most productive nuclear plant in OKI's arsenal with a more than 90 percent operation rating rating with the World Association of Nuclear Operators. "These are not new plants, however with refurbishment activities and normal maintenance activities we can make an older model run as well as a new one," says Pickering A senior vice-president Bill Robinson. David Shier, staff officer for the Ontario Ontario Power Workers Union anil president of the Canadian Nuclear Workers Council, Council, says the changes made at nil the Durham plants in recent years are very positive lor the employees who work there.' "The current status means a safer status status as well. The upgrades are positive. We're satisfied with the safety. We feel we have a lot of avenues for our concerns," Mr. Shier says, noting there are a number of labour/management committees and workers have the right to refuse unsafe work. "We also negotiated the right to shut down an unsafe workplace. We've done a lot of training and our workers are trained to question things. "We're quite aware of the safety effects on the community. The public can lie assured assured because our members live and work in the community." The cost of bringing Pickering A's four reactors hack on-line is expected to reach $2.5 billion, The criticism of the length and cost of the process will tie subject to an inquiry, according to Ministry of Energy Energy spokesman Dan Miles. As part of the re-slarl the plant underwent a 28-month regulatory process that included an environmental environmental assessment, the first ever com pleted on a Canadian nuclear plant. Pickering Pickering A was the first retrofit ever made on a CANDU reactor. A.J. GROEN/ Statesman photo process expected to take three years has already taken more than five. On the other hand, progress has clearly clearly been made: • Darlington's performance is closing in on the top 25 per cent worldwide with a WADO - World Association of Nuclear Operators - rating of over 90 per cent as it nears completion of recommended changes; • Pickering B's performance has risen from a dismal 50 per cent to about 75 per cent on average as it also nears completion completion of the improvements recommended. Once key maintenance tasks, required at this period in Pickering B's lifespan, arc completed, it is expected its performance will rise further; • One Pickering A reactor is poised to restart next month and be back at full power by mid-summer with the remaining remaining three expected to come on in six- to nine-month intervals; • The plants, led by Darlington, are now all ISO certified for assurance of best-practices for efficiency, safety and performance and have adopted new operating operating standards of continual maintenance and review. At the Brace plant, the first reactor is also expected to be operating this summer summer in time to assist with the Province's heavy summer electricity demands. As a result, Ontario ratepayers now have generation capacity that is far improved improved over what they had six years ago and the bill to prove it. Nuclear power has always been expensive on the capital end although in operating costs it is far cheaper cheaper than its counterparts. When all is said and done, the Pickering Pickering A retooling will likely cost taxpayers about $2.5 billion, up from first early estimates estimates of about $1 billion. For their money they will get a plant that will not only meet its 40 year life expectancy, running running until 2011, but can realistically be expected to operate for another 20 years or more beyond that timeframe if the American experience bears out, says Mr. Robinson. "There's no reason these plants can't ran reliably until the end of their life. The big question is when is the end of life. The U.S. plants are licensed for 40 years. When you look at those plants and the improvements, the continued corrective and preventative maintenance, you come to the conclusion these plants can ran longer. The standard there is another 20 years." The bottom line is whether the plants are safe, reliable, efficient and capable of generating enough electricity to make them financially worthwhile. The regulator, the customer and the community must all be satisfied this is done in a manner that is environmentally sound and safe. Can Canada's reactors follow their U.S. counterparts? Mr. Robinson is a believer. "There is ample reason now, based on What's been done. Yes they can." Some of the major changes to the plant include: • Seismic upgrades: Pickering A has been reinforced to sustain earthquake action. Pickering 13 and Darlington were built with seismic controls but Pickering A pre-dated these specifications; • Addition of a second shutdown system system for the reactor, which is already in place for the other plants; • Environmental improvements, specifically to eliminate copper and zinc emissions into Lake Ontario; • Addition of spill containment units at the bottom of transformers to prevent oil leakage into the ground; • Removal of underground tanks and pipes to above-ground position to ensure leak containment; • Eire prevention and protection improvements improvements including additional suppression suppression systems; • Increased training for staff; • Replacement of old parts such as pumps, valves, and turbines with new parts. There are 94 installed generating stations in Ontario with a total capacity of 30,548 MW when all are at full capacity. They include: • four nuclear generating stations: 10,836 MW • 59 hydroelectric stations: 7,615 MW • five coal-fired generators: 7,546 MW • 24 oil/natural gas stations: 4,485 MW • two miscellaneous - wind, waste, wood, etc. (66 MW) Peak demand for electricity: 25,414 MW, Aug. 13, 2002 during high and prolonged temperatures Highest winter peak: 24,158 MW set Jan. 22, 2003 Source: Independent Electricity Market Operators