As the cold weather approaches New Brunswick, the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station encountered a delay in its expected return-to-service date this week. N.B. Power reported that an equipment failure prevented the station from reconnecting to the electrical grid after an extended maintenance outage.
The startup phase of the return to service was described as complex by N.B. Power spokesperson Elizabeth Fraser, who explained that challenges were encountered on the non-nuclear side of the station during an early grid synchronization. This issue involved a bearing that is currently being replaced.
Originally scheduled for a 140-day maintenance outage starting in mid-July, Point Lepreau was supposed to resume operations earlier this week before the onset of New Brunswick’s peak heating season. Lepreau is a crucial generating plant for New Brunswick and operates as the lowest-cost facility under N.B. Power’s management.
The utility estimated that substituting Lepreau’s output with other electricity sources amounts to a daily cost ranging from $1 million to $4 million, with higher expenses during cold weather periods. Environment and Climate Change Canada forecasted temperatures in New Brunswick dropping below freezing later in the week, leading to additional expenses due to the delayed return of Lepreau.
To compensate for Lepreau’s absence, N.B. Power’s Coleson Cove generating station resorted to burning oil to meet the demand usually supplied by Lepreau. Despite the equipment issue hindering Lepreau’s reconnection to the grid, Fraser stated that the 20-week shutdown proceeded smoothly, with 23,000 individual tasks completed successfully.
N.B. Power is currently engaged in a multi-year initiative to upgrade aging components at the nuclear plant to address persistent reliability issues. Duncan Hawthorne, a former nuclear executive involved in evaluating N.B. Power’s future, criticized Lepreau as the poorest-performing nuclear plant in North America. Since its refurbishment in 2012, Lepreau has experienced over 1,240 days of offline time due to various maintenance issues, surpassing the initial projection by 790 days.
Fraser indicated that a specific return-to-service date for Lepreau was not available, mentioning only that it is expected to be operational “later in December.”