Gone fission at Lake Huron.

A very energetic fishing trip.

I have spent the last couple of weeks in Canada for a bit of work and to visit family.

No trip to Ontario would be complete without a spot of fishing and waterskiing on lake Huron combined with a trip to the Bruce Power nuclear power station.

Ontario is the home of Canada’s nuclear energy industry with three operational site including Bruce, Darlington and Pickering. New Brunswick is the only other province with nuclear operating a single 660MW unit. In total Canada produces 13.8GW of electricity from 22 reactors.

I find the parallels between Ontario and New Zealand interesting.

Ontario’s grid features a lot of hydro and wind generation like New Zealand, but where we differ is obviously the nuclear. I have long maintained that nuclear would pair well with New Zealand’s hydro scheme and if we had built a ~1GW plant on the shores of the Kaipara in the 70’s as proposed by the government of the time we would be in a much better place than we are now.

I had not been to a nuclear facility before, so I jumped at the opportunity to take a look at Bruce Power’s site which is the largest in North America.

The site is set out on ~950ha on the shores of Lake Huron which is an interesting aside as the lake produces trace levels of naturally occurring heavy water D2O at a concentration of about 0.0015%. This isn’t significant to the plant but is interesting none the less. The only water use of lake water at the plant is for condenser cooling water in the steam system.

The Bruce site has 8 reactors divided between two plants. Plant A housing four units and plant B the remaining four. The site has a net output of 6.5 GW which could essentially power the whole of New Zealand with spare capacity much of the time.

Despite the size of the site what really struck me was how small the footprint of the actual plants is. The enclosures are approximately 400m long by 300m wide. These enclosures house the reactors, steam plant and turbo alternators. Attached to each enclosure is a circular vacuum containment building which forms an integral part of the safety systems.

This is a very tangible demonstration of the shear energy density of nuclear energy that so much power can be generated from such a small footprint.

All waste remains on site. The first step being a ten-year cooling cycle in water ponds before being transferred to concrete caskets for onsite storage. The waste handling and storage facilities are also surprisingly small, which is again a function of the energy density.

Unit A shown with the reactor building and four turbine halls. The vacuum containment building is the circular concrete building on the left. The white dome in the background is the now retired Douglas point unit that was the first to be built on the site and operational from 1968 - 1984.

The remainder of the site is largely substations and switchgear, workshops, offices, car parks, and a few scattered utilities.

As an aside, the site is heavily fenced for obvious security reasons, the site is also heavily wooded and vast majority of it a natural habitat for the local wildlife. It would be fascinating to look at the biological differences of this isolated population of animals.

All of Canada’s nuclear fleet is based on the Canadian CANDU reactor design. CANDU is a Canadian proprietary design that stands for CANada Deuterium Uranium. This is a pressurized heavy water reactor that uses Deuterium, which is heavy water (D₂O), as both the neutron moderator and coolant.

One of the key features of this design is that they use naturally occurring uranium without the need for enrichment.

What also struck me was the extent of the industry that has been developed around these CANDU reactors. The refurbishment of the sites and the expansion of the Bruce site with an additional 4GW is 100% a Canadian effort. It has not been cheap and is not something NZ could not replicate, but we would not need to. CANDU units have been deployed to other countries such as India, South Korea, China and Romania.

Another thing that struck me talking to various people on my travels was the social license and general support the industry enjoys in Ontario. One particular political studies student I spoke with explained to me that nuclear was important for Canada because energy scarcity leads to political instability. I was suitably impressed with this comment as those familiar with my writings will appreciate.

The Canadian nuclear industry is currently embarking on a project to develop and commercialise the American designed GE Hitachi BWRX-300 300MW SMR (small modular reactor) at the Darlington site. I understand this is in an effort to prove the concept and subsequently develop a SMR export industry. The Canadians have managed to secure an impressive 80% local content deal as part of this joint venture with their American neighbors.

Canada, Ontario in particular, has fully embraced nuclear and is not looking back. I feel fortunate to have had the chance to take a much closer look. There was much to learn and more to ponder after this visit.

Perhaps some Canadian CANDU combined with some New Zealand “can do” would be the answer to our energy problems?

P.s. To my subscribers, apologies for the lack of material the past 3 weeks as I was travelling. Much has happened in NZ’s energy scene that is worthy of comment and analysis. Stay tuned for more over the coming days.

Bruce A unit in the foreground and unit B in the background. Beyond the office buildings on the right much of the site is a pseudo wildlife sanctuary.