Québec city: Citing increases in project costs, combined with falling market prices, Hydro-Quebec announced November 3 that its Gentilly-2 generating station, which has been operating since 1983, will stop producing electricity on December 28.
In accordance with its licensing conditions, Gentilly-2 will remain in operation until the end of 2012, following which Hydro-Québec will prepare the facility for dormancy with a view to its dismantling several decades from now. The preparations will extend over an 18-month period ending in mid-2014. Among other things, they will involve defueling the reactor, treating the heavy water and deactivating several systems. Once this is done, the generating station will remain dormant for some 40 years, after which the spent fuel will be removed from the site, the facility dismantled and the site restored.
Hydro-Québec will also participate in information sessions as part of the decommissioning process, which will be supervised by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). The decommissioning of Gentilly-2 will cost $1.8 billion over a period exceeding 50 years.
Several factors have had an impact on the project's business case. According to Hydro-Québec problems incurred in similar projects at Point Lepreau (New Brunswick) and Wolsong (South Korea), along with the uncertainty surrounding the sale of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), led the utility to postpone the start of work several times. Today, in light of the feedback it has obtained on the complete refurbishment cycle, the company has reassessed the cost of the project to $4.3 billion. This corresponds to a unit cost of 12.3¢ per kilowatt-hour, taking into account the investment required as well as $2 billion in future costs related to the spent fuel and long-term decommissioning of the generating station.
Ron Oberth, President of the Organization of CANDU Industries (OCI), expressed disappointment at the decision.
"More specifically,” he said, “it could be considered a model of long-term lease operations, because this model was a commercial success elsewhere in Canada, France and the United States. This option, similar to the model of Bruce Power in Ontario, would reduce the long-term operations costs and reduced risks for the government, while continuing to make a significant contribution to the local and provincial economy through the creation and maintaining jobs."
Hydro-Québec's report on Gentilly-2 is available at www.hydroquebec.com/media.