Darlington Nuclear Generating Station
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Darlington Nuclear Generating Station is a Canadian
nuclear power station A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces ele ...
located on the north shore of
Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...
in
Clarington, Ontario Clarington (2021 population 101,427) is a lower-tier municipality in the Regional Municipality of Durham in Ontario, Canada. It was incorporated in 1973 as the town of Newcastle with the merging of the town of Bowmanville, the Village of Newcastl ...
. It is a large nuclear facility comprising four CANDU
nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or nuclear fusion reactions. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. Heat fr ...
s with a total output of 3,512 MWe (capacity net) when all units are online. It is Canada's second-largest nuclear power plant and provides about 20 percent of Ontario's electricity needs, enough to serve a city of two million people. It is named for the Township of Darlington (now part of Clarington), the name of the municipality in which it is located at the time of its planning.


Construction and operation

The facility was constructed in stages between 1981 and 1993 by the provincial Crown corporation,
Ontario Hydro Ontario Hydro, established in 1906 as the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, was a publicly owned electricity utility in the Province of Ontario. It was formed to build transmission lines to supply municipal utilities with electricity g ...
. Unit 2 was brought online in 1990, Unit 1 in 1992, and Units 3 and 4 in 1993. In April 1999 Ontario Hydro was split into 5 component Crown corporations with
Ontario Power Generation Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG) is a Crown corporation and "government business enterprise" that is responsible for approximately half of the electricity generation in the province of Ontario, Canada. It is wholly owned by the governmen ...
(OPG) taking over all electrical generating stations. The Darlington reactors have been among the best performing in OPG's CANDU fleet, including a top year in 2008 in which the plant achieved a combined 94.5%
capacity factor The net capacity factor is the unitless ratio of actual electrical energy output over a given period of time to the theoretical maximum electrical energy output over that period. The theoretical maximum energy output of a given installation is def ...
. In June 2016, the
World Association of Nuclear Operators The World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) is a not for profit, International organization, international organisation with a mission to maximize the safety and reliability of the world’s commercial nuclear power plants. The organizationâ ...
(WANO) named Darlington one of the safest and top performing nuclear stations in the world - for the third time in a row. After public hearings, the
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC; french: Commission Canadienne de sûreté nucléaire) is the federal regulator of nuclear power and materials in Canada. Mandate and history Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission was established under t ...
announced in December 2015 the renewal of Darlington’s power reactor operating licence, for a 10 year period from Jan. 1, 2016 until Nov. 30, 2025, to allow for the refurbishment of the Darlington station, which began in October 2016. In March 2017, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and its venture arm, Canadian Nuclear Partners, announced plans to produce
Plutonium-238 Plutonium-238 (238Pu or Pu-238) is a fissile, radioactive isotope of plutonium that has a half-life of 87.7 years. Plutonium-238 is a very powerful alpha emitter; as alpha particles are easily blocked, this makes the plutonium-238 isotope suita ...
as a second source for
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...
. Rods containing Np-237 will be fabricated by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Washington State and shipped to OPG's Darlington Nuclear Generating Station where they will be irradiated with neutrons inside the reactor's core to produce Pu-238.NASA Doesn't Have Enough Nuclear Fuel For Its Deep Space Missions
Ethan Siegel, ''Forbes''. 13 December 2018.


Electrical Output

The graph represents the annual electricity generation at the site in TWh. As of the end of 2021, the total lifetime output of the facility was 929.24 TWh.


Cost overruns

The Darlington station incurred massive
cost overrun A cost overrun, also known as a cost increase or budget overrun, involves unexpected incurred costs. When these costs are in excess of budgeted amounts due to a value engineering underestimation of the actual cost during budgeting, they are known ...
s during its construction. The initial cost estimate for the station was $3.9 billion
CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...
in the late 1970s, which increased to $7.4 billion in 1981 when construction was started. A year-long period of public hearings and study by an Ontario government all-party committee finished in 1986 with the decision to proceed with the project, which had then risen to $7 billion in actual and committed costs. The final cost was $14.4 billion CAD, almost double the initial construction budget. The project was adversely affected by declining electricity demand forecasts, mounting debt of Ontario Hydro, and the Chernobyl disaster which necessitated safety reviews in mid-construction. Each delay incurred interest charges on debt, which ultimately accounted for 70% of the cost overruns. Inflation during 1977 to 1981 was 46 percent, according to Canada's Consumer Price index. In addition interest rates were running at 20 percent. Improper choice of equipment and a six-month labour stoppage of electrical workers also yielded some of these costs and delays. Discussion of who is to blame for the costs and subsequent debts associated with Darlington often arise during provincial election campaigns, and are often mentioned in
anti-nuclear The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, nationa ...
literature.


Refurbishment project

On October 14, 2016, OPG began Canada’s largest clean infrastructure project – the refurbishment of all four of Darlington’s reactors. According to the
Conference Board of Canada The Conference Board of Canada is a Canadian not-for-profit think tank dedicated to researching and analyzing economic trends, as well as organizational performance and public policy issues. Describing itself as "objective" and "non-partisan", th ...
, the $12.8 billion investment will generate $14.9 billion in economic benefits to Ontario, including thousands of construction jobs at Darlington and at some 60 Ontario companies supplying components for the work. The project is scheduled for completion by 2026, and will ensure safe plant operation through 2055. The first reactor to be refurbished was Unit 2. In March 2020, it was announced that the refurbishment of Unit 2 was complete, and in April 2020, the reactor achieved criticality for the first time since being reassembled. The reactor was reconnected to the grid in June.


New build proposal

In 2006, OPG started the federal approvals process to build new nuclear units at the site of its Darlington Nuclear Station. The project proposal involved the construction and operation of up to four nuclear units, with capacity of up to 4,800 MW. A request for proposals (RFP) process for design and construction resulted in bids from
Areva NP Framatome () is a French nuclear reactor business. It is owned by Électricité de France (EDF) (75.5%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%), and Assystem (5%). The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water react ...
, Westinghouse, and
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the 1950s, and in October 2011 licensed this ...
(AECL). In June 2009, the Government of Ontario put the RFP process on hold, citing unexpectedly high bids, and the uncertainty surrounding the future of the only compliant bidder (AECL). In August 2011, the three-member Joint Review Panel (mandated by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment and the
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC; french: Commission Canadienne de sûreté nucléaire) is the federal regulator of nuclear power and materials in Canada. Mandate and history Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission was established under t ...
) released a report finding that the Darlington new build project would not result in any significant adverse environmental impacts (after taking into account mitigation measures). Following the report, the federal government approved the Environmental Assessment. In October 2013, the Ontario government declared that the Darlington new build project would not be a part of Ontario's long term energy plan, citing the high capital cost estimates and energy surplus in the province at the time of the announcement. In November 2020, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) announced plans to build a
small modular reactor Small modular reactors (SMRs) are a proposed class of nuclear fission reactors, smaller than conventional nuclear reactors, which can be built in one location (such as a factory), then shipped, commissioned, and operated at a separate site. The ...
(SMR) at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. It is expected to be operational by 2028 at the earliest. OPG will work with GE Hitachi Nuclear Canada to build the SMR. On December 2nd, 2022, Ontario Power Generation officially broke ground on the new build Darlington SMR (Darlington B) project. The first unit to be constructed is a GE BWRX-300 unit, expected to be operational by 2028.


Waste

Low and intermediate level waste from Darlington is stored at the Western Waste Management Facility (WWMF) at the Bruce nuclear site near
Kincardine, Ontario Kincardine ( ) is a municipality located on the shores of Lake Huron in Bruce County in the province of Ontario, Canada. The current municipality was created in 1999 by the amalgamation of the Town of Kincardine, the Township of Kincardine, a ...
. OPG has proposed the construction and operation of a deep geologic repository for the long-term storage of this low and intermediate level waste on lands adjacent to WWMF. On May 6, 2015 the Joint Review Panel issued the Environmental Assessment (EA) Report recommending the approval of the Deep Geologic Repository for Ontario’s low and intermediate level waste to the federal government. In February 2016, the Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change delayed a decision on OPG’s DGR, causing a pause in the timeline for the environmental assessment decision to be issued. OPG has since committed to completing further DGR studies by the end of 2016. The Darlington Waste Management Facility provides dry storage for the used fuel from Darlington, after an initial period in a water-filled storage bay. The facility was opened in 2007, reportedly on schedule and on budget. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is seeking a site in Canada for a permanent repository for used fuel from all of Canada's nuclear reactors.


Records

2020: On Tuesday, September 15 Darlington Unit 1 broke the world record for continuous generation at 963 days, a record previous held by Pickering Unit 7 at 894 days for 22 years until it was broken in 2016 by Heysham 2 in the UK. As of September 28, 2020, Unit 1 was at 976 days.
2021: On Thursday, February 4 at sometime after 11PM Darlington Unit 1 finally went down for maintenance after 1,106 continuous days of generation, setting the world nuclear operation record and world thermal plant generation record.


Spill

In 2009, more than 200,000 litres of water containing trace amounts of
tritium Tritium ( or , ) or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or H) is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with half-life about 12 years. The nucleus of tritium (t, sometimes called a ''triton'') contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of ...
and hydrazine spilled into Lake Ontario after workers accidentally filled the wrong tank with tritiated water. However the level of the isotope in the lake was less than 1 percent of the regulatory limit and consistent with normal operational activities. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/a-closer-look-at-canada-s-nuclear-plants-1.1194756


See also

*
List of largest power stations in Canada This article lists the largest electrical generating stations in Canada in terms of current installed electrical capacity. Non-renewable power stations are those that run on coal, fuel oils, nuclear, natural gas, oil shale and peat, while renew ...
* List of nuclear reactors in Canada *
Nuclear power in Canada Nuclear power in Canada is provided by 19 commercial reactors with a net capacity of 13.5 gigawatt (GW), producing a total of 95.6 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, which accounted for 16.6% of the country's total electric energy generation i ...
*
Pickering Nuclear Generating Station Pickering Nuclear Generating Station is a Canadian nuclear power station located on the north shore of Lake Ontario in Pickering, Ontario. It is one of the oldest nuclear power stations in the world and Canada's third-largest, consisting of eigh ...
*
Bruce Nuclear Generating Station Bruce Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power station located on the eastern shore of Lake Huron in Ontario, Canada. It occupies 932 ha (2300 acres) of land. The facility derives its name from Bruce Township, the local municipality when ...
*
Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power station located 2 km northeast of Point Lepreau, New Brunswick, Canada. The facility was constructed between 1975 and 1983 by NB Power, the provincially owned public utility. ...


References


External links


Ontario Power Generation Web site

Darlington New Build Web Site
{{Electricity generation Nuclear power stations with proposed reactors Nuclear power stations in Ontario Nuclear power stations using CANDU reactors Ontario Power Generation Buildings and structures in Clarington Energy infrastructure completed in 1990