Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station Back Online

June 16, 2016

Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station has reconnected to New Brunswick’s grid and is producing 660 MW of emission-free power.

The station was taken offline in April for maintenance. The project coincided with seasonal increases in Saint John River water flows producing additional energy in the hydro system and with lower seasonal electricity demand, which helped offset the loss of Point Lepreau’s contribution to provincial energy needs.

“Investing in ongoing maintenance at the Point Lepreau station is essential to ensuring its continued safe operation and to maximizing the value and lifespan of this vital energy asset for New Brunswickers,” says Gaëtan Thomas, President and CEO. “This outage was a massive and complex undertaking for our staff and contractors and I’m very proud that it was completed with excellent employee and contractor safety, and environmental protection.”

Significant improvements on the conventional side of the plant included replacing two low pressure turbine rotors, and installing new switchyard equipment, which will result in nearly $3 million per year in cost savings and enhanced grid reliability. On the nuclear side, workers conducted a variety of repairs, modifications and inspections on multiple systems including the primary heat transport system.

More than 600 contractors and tradespeople from across the province supported NB Power staff over the 72-day outage; three weeks beyond the expected duration. They undertook approximately 15,000 planned technical maintenance activities on both the conventional and nuclear components of the Station during the outage.

The Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is a 660 megawatt (net) nuclear generating station and a base load contributor to the New Brunswick electrical grid. It produces enough non-emitting electricity to power more than 333,000 homes per year and is a foundational piece of both our domestic energy supply and our export sales.