OPG awards $350M Darlington nuclear contract

Ontario Power Generation has awarded a $350-million contract for refurbishing the Darlington nuclear station to Alstom Power & Transport Canada.

It’s the second major refurbishment contract awarded, bringing the total value to nearly $1 billion, even though no final decision on the overhaul will be made until 2015.

SNC-Lavalin and Aecon Industrial had previously been awarded a $600-million contract for work on the nuclear reactors at Darlington.

Alstom’s contract is for work on the turbine generators at the station. A nuclear station works by cre- ating heat through a nuclear reaction, then using that heat to make steam that spins turbine generators. OPG spokesman Neal Kelly said that both contracts have a combination of detailed planning work, and execution work. OPG won’t make a final decision on whether to proceed with the Darlington overhaul until 2015, he said. If the decision is not to proceed, some of the money won’t be spent, though it’s not clear how much. OPG hasn’t released an estimate of what the total overhaul cost will be, saying it won’t be known until all the planning and design work is completed in 2015. The work on the turbine genera- tors will extend their lives by 30 years, OPG says.

The new contract signing surprised Peter Tabuns, energy critic for the New Democratic Party at Queen’s Park.

“You spend a billion dollars on a project before you decided whether to do it?” he said. “Clearly, someone has too big a budget.”