Refurbishment of Bruce 3 reactor completed in record time

Reactor removal at Bruce 3 was completed ahead of schedule, thanks to experience gained from previous projects. The removal of calandria tubes during the refurbishment was completed in record time compared with other CANDU reactors.

Bruce 3 is the second unit to undergo a major component replacement (Major Component Replacement – MCR). The process involves removing and replacing key reactor components, including steam generators, pressure tubes, calandria tubes and feeder tubes. The major refurbishment extends the reactor's operating life by 30 to 35 years. A total of six reactors at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Ontario, Canada, will undergo refurbishment. The first of them, Bruce 6, returned to commercial operation in September last year.

Applying experience from the Bruce 6 refurbishment

Unit 3 was taken offline for the MCR in March 2023. Removing the feeder, pressure and calandria tubes, along with other internal components, took nine months. The work was carried out by the MCR project team in cooperation with contractor partners Shoreline Power Group (a joint venture between Aecon, AtkinsRéalis and United Engineers & Constructors) and ATS Industrial Automation. Removal of the 480 calandria tubes—welded tubes that pass through the cylindrical reactor vessel—was completed on 26 July, 11 days ahead of schedule. The calandria tubes contain the pressure tubes that carry fuel and coolant.

Applying lessons learned, innovation and technological advances meant that the removal took less time than the same work on Unit 6. “Each successive MCR outage brings an opportunity to improve, and we are committed to bringing these units back online safely and successfully to meet Ontario’s energy needs well into the future,” said Laurent Seigle, Bruce Power’s executive vice-president of projects.

“Delivering a project of this complexity and scale requires an ecosystem of nuclear professionals working together towards a common goal,” he added.

Moving to new technologies and future plans

Shoreline’s millwrights, boilermakers and electricians will now move on to the historic first commissioning, operation and maintenance of a six-axis robotic tooling system for reactor inspection. Installation work includes replacing 960 tubes and 480 fuel channels, including calandria tubes. Automated tooling systems, most of which were designed, tested and manufactured by ATS Industrial Automation, will be used to clean and inspect thousands of components on both sides of the reactor.

The next unit to undergo an MCR will be Bruce 4, with work scheduled to begin in 2025. Units 5, 7 and 8 will also be refurbished over the next 10 years. According to the companies, this work will directly and indirectly create and sustain around 1,500 jobs over the next 15 years in the counties of Grey, Bruce and Huron and across Ontario.