In a significant milestone for the Darlington Nuclear refurbishment project, Ontario Power Generation (OPG), along with its project partners and vendors announced on June 4 that they had successfully completed the refurbishment of Darlington Nuclear Generating Station’s Unit 2 reactor and had reconnected it to Ontario’s electricity grid at 100 per cent power.
Fish-eye view of unit 2 turbine hall. Photo: OPG
“This is a truly historic moment for Ontario. I want to thank our refurbishment team, project partners, vendors and construction building trades workers for more than 24 million hours worked safely and for returning Darlington’s Unit 2 reactor to the grid at a time of unprecedented circumstances,” said Ken Hartwick, OPG’s President and CEO. “This world-class project performance demonstrates the team’s expertise and their commitment to completing the four-unit refurbishment safely, with quality and on budget by end of 2026 as planned.”
The four-unit Darlington refurbishment project, which began with Unit 2 in 2016 after nearly a decade of planning and preparation, required the support of hundreds of companies and thousands of workers within OPG and from across the province. The integrated team undertook more than 765,000 training hours in the project’s leading-edge mock-up and training facility to safely shut down, defuel, disassemble and reconstruct the reactor. This in-depth training enabled the team to practice complex tasks before performing them in the field, resulting in improved efficiencies. The project’s success was also aided by innovative technology and precision tooling delivered by hundreds of Ontario manufacturers.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, OPG postponed the commencement of Unit 3 refurbishment from its scheduled start in May 2020, allowing the unit to continue delivering electricity to the grid. Subject to the status of the pandemic, OPG is preparing to resume the hiring of skilled trades workers and begin prerequisite activities this month to safely start the next phase on the project, which will require the continued support of its key project partners: CanAtom Power Group, GE Power, ES Fox, Black and McDonald Limited and BWXT Canada.
Learn more about the Darlington Nuclear Refurbishment Project.
The overall schedule for the refurbishment of all four units remains on track for completion in 2026.