OPG's Pickering Unit 5 enters maintenance outage

TORONTO, ONTARIO Ontario Power Generation (OPG) took Pickering Unit 5 off-line February 11, beginning a planned maintenance outage expected to last into the early summer.

"Maintenance and upgrades are essential at our stations," said Tom Mitchell, Pickering B Site Vice President. "At regular intervals we take units off-line to inspect, maintain and upgrade various components as part of our station condition improvement program. Safely operating and maintaining our equipment pays dividends in improved station performance."

Prior to the outage, Unit 5 had been on line for 96 continuous days and last year Unit 5 had the best record at Pickering B with a unit capability factor(1) of over 92 per cent. The Unit has a rated capacity of 515 megawatts.

"The outage, which is scheduled to have the unit back in service to meet the hot summertime peaks in electricity demand, is one of our largest," added Mitchell. "Major work on the reactor side will include boiler cleaning, inspection and maintenance on fuel channels, the installation of new equipment in the main control room, and the inspection and repacking of a number of valves."

Work on the non-nuclear side of the station includes inspection and repair to a number of valves, work on the turbine generator, a major overhaul of a cooling water pump, and the overhaul of low pressure service water pumps.

Toronto Star