Darlington 1 refurbishment on target for early completion
Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) project to refurbish the four Candu units at Darlington is now 86% complete, with unit 1 preparing to restart ahead of schedule. Meanwhile disassembly work on unit 4 continues - and the company has announced its latest corporate green bond issue.
The reactor and supporting systems at Darlington 1 are undergoing tests in preparation for regulatory approval to restart the unit in the final quarter of this year, OPG said in its latest update on the project which covers the period to 30 June. "At the end of this report period, Unit 1 refurbishment execution was 95% complete, on plan, with the restoration of the reactor vault forecasted to be complete in Q3," the company said.
The execution of the refurbishment of unit 4, which began in July 2023, is 42% complete and is on plan, with recent highlights including the completion of calandria tube insert removal, allowing for ongoing work to remove the unit's 480 calandria tubes and pressure tubes which is expected to be completed during the current quarter.
"The refurbishment of the four Darlington units remains on plan for completion by the end of 2026, as committed," the company said. "Unit 1 is on track to complete in Q4 2024, ahead of plan."
The Darlington units are being refurbished in a CAD12.8 billion (USD9.7 billion) project that will enable the station to operate for an additional 30 years. Unit 2 was the first to be refurbished and returned to service in June 2020; unit 3 returned to service in July 2023.
OPG has also initiated a project to refurbish four Candu units at the Pickering nuclear power station, as well as planning to build up to four BWRX-300 small modular reactors (SMRs) at its Darlington New Nuclear project.
On 18 September, the company announced the issue of CAD300 million (USD221 million) of bonds under its Sustainable Finance Framework and said it will use the net proceeds to fund a range of low-carbon energy projects. Under a new Sustainable Finance Framework announced in June, OPG may use funds from the bonds for energy-related projects and programmes including new nuclear projects, such as SMRs, and large new nuclear, in addition to maintenance or refurbishment of existing facilities.
OPG has issued a total of CAD4.6 billion in green bonds since 2018, including offerings by its subsidiaries. To date in 2024, OPG and its subsidiaries have issued CAD1.5 billion in green bonds, including CAD1.3 billion under the Sustainable Finance Framework.
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