Ontario Power Generation will be allowed to extend the operating life of reactors at its Pickering Nuclear Plant following a decision by Canadian regulators announced Tuesday.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission will allow the reactors to increase their maximum equivalent full power hours from 210,000 to 247,000. Last summer, the CNSC granted a five-year license extension for the six units operating near Toronto. At that point, the agency put the previous hourly limit in place pending a review of OPG's compliance with a number of safety conditions, including new rules enacted following the Fukushima Daiichi accidents in Japan. The CNSC has also ordered OPG to help complete a risk improvement plan due in August.
The Toronto Star reported that one of the units would have reached the lower hourly operating limit this month. OPG plans to operate the plant until 2020 and hopes to avoid replacement of the Candu heavy-water reactors' pressure tubes that hold their fuel.