Ontario Power Generation said this week that work had begun on Darlington Nuclear Generating Station’s Unit 1, the third of four reactors to undergo mid-life refurbishment.
OPG said it had support from “Ontario’s robust nuclear supply chain and other project partners, suppliers and contractors.”
The overall refurbishment project, scheduled to take more than 10 years, is now past the midway point. It is a $12.8 billion project, that is expected to ready the Darlington plant for 30 addition years of service. The project began in October 2016.
The first reactor involved in the midlife overhaul, Unit 2, was returned to service in June 2020. After a brief delay related to the COVID-19 pandemic, work on Unit 3 began in September 2020. “Now, with Unit 3 in the midst of reassembly, refurbishment of Unit 1 begins,” said OPG.
It is the first time two units were being refurbished at the same time.
Unit 4, the final unit to be refurbished, is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2023, while the project “remains on track for completion by the end of 2026,” according to OPG.