Partial Shutdown
On December 31, 1997 the four Pickering A reactors were shut down by Ontario Hydro and placed in lay up, suspending work on upgrades to the shutdown system. As a result the federal regulator, the Atomic Energy Control Board, because of the decision to delay the upgrade of the emergency shutdown systems at the station, required the corporation to obtain regulatory approval before restarting the units. Ontario Hydro committed to restarting the units, but the project underwent long delays and large cost over-runs.
Premier Mike Harris asked former federal energy Minister Jake Epp to study and make recommendations on the problems with the Pickering restart. Mr. Epp acknowledged the large cost over-runs and delays attributing blame to bad management. The Epp Review estimated the cost of restarting the remaining reactors at $3 – 4 billion and supported the continuation of the project.
Upon election in 2003 the government of Dalton McGuinty was not immediately prepared to proceed with the restart of Pickering A. On December 16, 2003 the McGuinty government tasked the Ontario Power Generation Review Committee with reviewing the structure of Ontario Power Generation and the restart of the Pickering A reactors. The Committee included former federal finance Minister John Manley as chair as well as Peter Godsoe, a former CEO of Scotiabank, and Jake Epp.
On March 18, 2004 the OPG Review Committee released its report, attributing the blame for cost over-runs to bad management. The report recommended proceeding with the restart of the Pickering “A” reactors, bringing unit 1, 2, and 3 online sequentially. The report suggested that the restart of units 2 and 3 should be contingent as to whether “OPG will be able to succeed at the Unit 1 project.”
The Sierra Club of Canada criticized the report for not attributing any blame to the problems of nuclear technology, noting that there were no energy or environmental experts appointed to the panel.
Numerous changes in executive-level staff and project management strategy were made for the follow-on project to refurbish Unit 1. The experience of refurbishing Pickering A Unit 1 was significantly different from Unit 4, with a much tighter adherence to schedule and budget. Unit 1 was returned to service in November 2005, providing 542 MW of generating capacity for Ontario's electricity system.
In August 2005, the OPG Board of Directors announced that Units 2 and 3 would not be refurbished due to specific technical and cost risks surrounding the material condition of these two units.
Read more about this topic: Pickering Nuclear Generating Station
Famous quotes containing the word partial:
“And meanwhile we have gone on living,
Living and partly living,
Picking together the pieces,
Gathering faggots at nightfall,
Building a partial shelter,
For sleeping and eating and drinking and laughter.”
—T.S. (Thomas Stearns)