Original Douglas Point nuclear plant to be removed

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It’s the end of an era for Canada’s first full-scale nuclear power plant.

Douglas Point, a 200-megawatt CANDU reactor, ran from 1967 until 1984, when it was permanently shut down. As a prototype nuclear reactor it showed that a CANDU plant could be scaled up for commercial power generation.

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By 1986, the fuel had been removed and the reactor coolant drained in accordance with regulatory requirements.

Since then the facility has been in a safe shutdown state, referred to as the “storage with surveillance” phase of decommissioning. The final phase of decommissioning is set to begin this year and is to lead to the removal of the entire facility by about 2070.

Decommissioning is being handled by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. Spokesperson Ian Bainbridge told Bruce County council Thursday the decommissioning is not going to happen overnight, but the plan is to start dismantling the non-nuclear section of the reactor over the next couple of years before tackling the more radioactive area.

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Douglas Point is on a five-hectare piece of property within what is now the much larger Bruce nuclear site, which is operated by Bruce Power under a long-term lease, but is owned by Ontario Power Generation.

Bainbridge said an amendment to the Douglas Point licence was submitted to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in July, 2019. A hearing for the licence amendment is planned for the spring of 2020. The amendment is necessary for the next phase of decommissioning activities to commence.

Bainbridge said the next phase involves removal of the rest of the buildings in stages, starting with the non-nuclear buildings, administration building and turbine building and a few garages. They will then move on to the radioactive buildings, support buildings and finally the reactor building.

“That will allow us to provide specific tooling to go in and remove the calandria, the vessel that used to hold the core, and that will generate intermediate level waste that will be packaged and shipped to Chalk River. Eventually we remove the reactor building,” said Bainbridge.

Margot Thompson, a communications specialist for CNL, said the presentation to Bruce County council is part of engaging communities about the project.

“The reason we’re here today is to get the word out early. We want to hear community feedback. It’s really important that we get that input early on and incorporated into the project.”

Thompson said although completion of the work is set for the next 50 years she expects much of it will  be done in the next 20 years.

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All of the waste from Douglas Point will be stored at Chalk River, the centre for all AECL waste.

Kincardine Mayor Anne Eadie raised concerns about what would happen to asbestos found in the decommissioning of Douglas Point.

“The removal when you’re decommissioning Douglas Point is a big concern for me. Our landfills are costly and we have spent millions on them. We are already on our second cell,” said Eadie.

“I’m just concerned about the volume of the non-nuclear waste as well.”

Bainbridge said there are many companies that are expert at properly disposing of asbestos.

“We’re comfortable that dealing with asbestos is becoming a more common practice . . . we obviously have to talk to the local municipalities and make sure we are in agreement with them on where these wastes will actually be disposed of,” said Bainbridge.