Candu Energy Inc, part of Canada’s SNC-Lavalin Group, announced on 7 May that it had been awarded $16m of contracts in the first three months of 2018 to support Bruce Power’s operational objectives.
The work was awarded under a Master Services Agreement signed in 2016 and is in addition to work announced previously. SNC-Lavalin’s reactor engineering team has been helping Bruce Power to extend the life of its reactors by supporting them in the Fitness For Service assessment of feeders and fuel channels, in addition to the High Energy Line Break Assessment (HELBA).
SNC-Lavalin continues to support two key fuel channel inspection and maintenance tools at Bruce Power – the Advanced Non-Destructive Examination (ANDE)/replication maintenance tools and the Modal Detection and Repositioning (MODAR) tool for fuel channel spacer repositioning, which are deployed by the Bruce Reactor Inspection and Maintenance System (BRIMS). The team is working with Bruce Power on a methodology to reduce the need for MODAR by estimating the acceptable minimum gap in each channel.
“This is another step completed and continued progress for Bruce Power’s Life-Extension programme, which is Canada’s largest infrastructure project and remains on-time and in-budget,” said Bruce Power President and CEO Mike Rencheck. Bruce Power operates eight Candu reactors – units 1-4 at Bruce A and units 5-8 at Bruce B. Bruce A 1&2 have already been refurbished. Work continues on the CAD$13bn life-extension programme on units 3-8.
In October 2017, SNC-Lavalin joined Bruce Power’s Regional Supplier Network and opened a new office in Port Elgin. The office continues to expand the number of engineering design projects it can offer to Bruce Power. Recent projects include removing the main control room’s indicators and alarms for the unit operator display driver system, and a project to replace obsolete temperature controllers in the secondary control area and emergency water and power supply for units 5-8.
Photo: The Bruce nuclear power station in Canada
