As icy weather approaches New Brunswick, the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station faced a setback in its scheduled return-to-service date this week. N.B. Power reported that an attempt to reconnect Lepreau to the electrical grid after a prolonged maintenance outage was impeded by an equipment failure.
Explaining the situation, N.B. Power spokesperson Elizabeth Fraser mentioned in an email that the startup phase is intricate, and challenges arose on the non-nuclear side of the station during an early synchronization to the grid due to a bearing issue requiring replacement.
The maintenance outage, which began in mid-July and was expected to last 140 days, was intended to conclude early in the week before the onset of New Brunswick’s peak heating season. Lepreau, crucial for power generation in New Brunswick and the most cost-effective facility operated by N.B. Power, has been offline during this period.
The utility indicated that substituting Lepreau’s output with other electricity sources costs between $1 million and $4 million per day, with higher expenses incurred during cold spells. Environment and Climate Change Canada forecasts freezing temperatures in New Brunswick later in the week, potentially increasing the financial impact of Lepreau’s delayed return.
To compensate for Lepreau’s absence, N.B. Power’s Coleson Cove generating station resorted to burning oil to meet the power demand. Despite the current setback in reconnecting Lepreau to the grid, Fraser highlighted that the 20-week shutdown progressed well, with 23,000 individual tasks completed successfully.
N.B. Power is currently engaged in a long-term initiative to modernize aging components at the nuclear plant to address persistent reliability issues. Duncan Hawthorne, part of a group assessing N.B. Power’s future, previously criticized Lepreau as the poorest-performing nuclear plant in North America due to its extended periods offline for maintenance since its refurbishment in 2012.
Fraser did not provide a specific reactivation date for Lepreau, only stating that it is expected to come back online “later in December.”