Heat exchangers
$30M contract could create 40 jobs at BWXT
CAMBRIDGE — BWXT Canada Ltd. has landed new contracts worth about $30 million to design and supply heat exchangers for the Bruce nuclear power station, as a long-term refurbishment project continues.
The 13 critical heat exchangers will be designed and built at BWXT’s plant on Coronation Boulevard. The heat exchangers perform several functions, including maintaining safe reactor temperatures while they’re shut down, and removing heat from spent fuel storage bays.
BWXT Canada is a key partner in the 20-year project to refurbish six of the nuclear plant’s eight reactors, and has already secured contracts worth more than $175 million for the work.
The company said the latest contracts could create up to 40 new jobs. It is hosting a job fair at the Cambridge facility on Saturday from 8 a.m. to noon for a variety of positions. BWXT Canada currently employs about 950 people at four Ontario locations.
“Our partnership with BWXT Canada is vital to our Life Extension Program, which started January 2016, and is Canada’s largest infrastructure project,” Bruce Power president Mike Rencheck said in a release.
“Leveraging BWXT’s proven expertise in heat exchanger work will ensure our Life Extension Program continues to be a success and remains on-time and on-budget supporting Bruce Power’s commitment to continue delivering clean, reliable and low-cost nuclear power for families and business for decades to come.”
BWXT has supplied more than 150 heat exchangers to nuclear facilities worldwide, including several to Bruce Power. The company has also supplied equipment and services to the Bruce station since it opened in 1977.
Delivery of the new heat exchangers is due to begin this year and continue to 2020.
“These heat exchangers will help to safely extend the life of Bruce Power’s reactors, so that they can continue to provide low-cost, clean and reliable power for Ontarians for many years in the future,” BWXT Canada president John MacQuarrie said in the news release.
The Bruce Power refurbishment project is valued at $13 billion, and is intended to extend the life of the station to 2064. The plant north of Kincardine supplies 30 per cent of Ontario’s electricity.