[New Brunswick] Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station | 660 MW | Developments

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

A thread for developments related to Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station.

There's been a lot of talk recently about building a second CANDU reactor at Point Lepreau, including a pitch from the premier herself. Moreover, both Moltex and Arc Inc were selected by NB Power to build reactors at Point Lepreau, but the status of these projects remain unclear.

The Moltex WATSS (waste to stable salt) system seemed especially suited for Point Lepreau, since it would recycle and consume spent fuel entirely from the on site supply of 40+ years of waste from Canada's sole CANDU reactor outside of Ontario.

Now even more recently, there's talk of a medical radioisotope reactor and processing facility, which more than likely be built at Point Lepreau. As someone who's dad's life was saved by a PET scan made possible by a radioisotope flown into YSJ from Quebec, I think it would be tremendous for all New Brunswickers to see these life saving nuclear medical advancements being produced a lot closer to home.

Really though, I hope Holt is able to convince Carney to sign off on a second CANDU reactor at Lepreau, along with investing in a smarter, maritime wide power grid. Nova Scotia has big plans for wind energy, and if New Brunswick doubled its nuclear output or more, the maritimes will massively decrease its carbon footprint and be much better setup to continue on this path of demographic and economic growth.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

This rendering from Moltex's WATSS system brochure really shows how much potential there is for further nuclear developments at Point Lepreau:




Moltex Canada's CEO, Rory O'Sullivan gave a pretty comprehensive overview of their SMR and WATSS system on a podcast I watched a few years back now.

• Video Link


I've heard Moltex's parent company in the UK is having some financial issues, which is impacting Moltex Canada's plans for their molten salt reactor project at Point Lepreau. Though, Moltex has recently claimed to have had some promising results with its recycling technology. Their recycling plans for Point Lepreau could still be promising, but NB Power may have to find another firm to build the SMR if neither Arc cannot get it built in a timely fashion.


I've always been a fan of nuclear power, and still find it quite impressive that a small province like New Brunswick has a nuclear generating station to begin with. I've still got my fingers crossed that these local, Saint John nuclear companies will prove their doubters wrong.

A future where NB has a second CANDU reactor, multiple SMRs, and a medical radioisotope facility could very well be a future within reach.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Figured I'd share this reply from Casper from the thread I started on the proposed NB medical radioisotope reactor on the Canadian Current Events forum.

Casper is one of the forum's more knowledgeable posters when it comes to science and engineering:

Originally Posted by casper

Interesting, I think it would be a great addition. The media does not understand this stuff. So the actual process is:

You start with Molybdenum-95 (Mo-95) and your put in the core of a reactor and produce Mo-99.

You harvest the Mo-99 from the reactor, process it into a package called a generator. It is basically the Mo-99 places on an aluminum substrate. That generator is then sold to a hospital.

A small amount of Mo-99 decays into Tc-99m each day. Each morning the pharmacist at the hospital washes off the Tc-99m from the generator and combines that with a kit that they purchase the resulting product is what they inject into patients. The other compounds in the kit "stick" to the cancer cells or whatever it is they are trying to image while the Tc-99m in the mix is what shows up on the detector. After several days the yield off the generator is too low and they need to dispose of it and get a new one.

Chalk River was irradiating the Mo-99 in the NRU (and before that the NRX) reactors. Those were reactors that started off as part of the WWII effort and were end of life. Chalk River had built two replacements, called Maple reactors. The Maples (like the earlier NRU And NRX) required the irradiation area around the Mo-99 to have high flux requiring the use of highly enriched uranium. There were political reasons why they were not brought online.

Canada looked at using accelerators for Tc-99m production. Believe it is mostly done today by putting targets into some tubes in CANDU reactors that were originally intended for reactor calibration but never used.

All said, an isotope reactor in Atlantic Canada sounds like a great idea.

What is critical is to get the generators to the hospitals as quickly as possible after the material is pulled from the reactor. Being close to airports with cargo facilities is critical.

The radio-pharmacist in the hospital each morning

The Saint John Regional Hospital is still the largest hospital in the province, so locating the main site for the facility at Point Lepreau or near the Saint John Airport could both be logical locations. Point Lepreau; however, seems like like the most logical location.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

• Video Link

New Brunswick’s Point Lepreau back online after five-month maintenance outage

The Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station in New Brunswick is back online, after a five-month maintenance outage.

The outage lasted about two weeks longer than originally planned due to a problem with a turbine bearing that needed to be replaced. It officially returned to service Sunday.

The scheduled maintenance shutdown started in mid-July and NB Power officials said the team has completed more than 23,000 tasks during that time.


When the generating station is offline, it’s estimated to cost the utility between $1-$1.5 million a day because the utility has to find and pay for replacement power along with repairs to the nuclear plant.

The station was only operating 27 per cent of the time during the 2024-25 fiscal year.

NB Power officials have said when Point Lepreau is operating well, so is the utility overall.

Point Lepreau is scheduled for another maintenance shutdown in the spring for 119 days.

Another maintenance shutdown in the spring for 119 days?

[bingun]

There was more noise today from NB Power about medical isotope production. I can't remember if it was official when it was discussed last time, but today's news certainly is.

NB Power to explore medical isotope production at Point Lepreau

https://www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/new-brun...cal-isotope-production-at-point-lepreau/

[thefishingnut]

Originally Posted by bingun

There was more noise today from NB Power about medical isotope production. I can't remember if it was official when it was discussed last time, but today's news certainly is.

NB Power to explore medical isotope production at Point Lepreau

https://www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/new-brun...cal-isotope-production-at-point-lepreau/

Idiocy. 27% availability in 24/25 fiscal according to the article. 5 month outage for maintenance ending in December, run for a few months until another 119 day maintenance window starting in April. Anyone want to bet on that one finishing on time? Apparently having all hands on deck to improve the availability catastrophe isn't the priority.

A financial basketcase. Millions lost trying to turn salt water into power in Belledune. Millions lost on modular reactors, when they should have left it for Ontario to run. What was it, $700 million lost at Coleson Cove for orimulsion?

Ya, lets spend millions to look at medical isotopes, the NBPower track record on additional revenue generation is so sparkling, why not try another financial miracle flier. Who the hell is going to sign a contract with Lepreau when they have a 27% availability figure?

[bingun]

Originally Posted by thefishingnut

Idiocy. 27% availability in 24/25 fiscal according to the article. 5 month outage for maintenance ending in December, run for a few months until another 119 day maintenance window starting in April. Anyone want to bet on that one finishing on time? Apparently having all hands on deck to improve the availability catastrophe isn't the priority.

A financial basketcase. Millions lost trying to turn salt water into power in Belledune. Millions lost on modular reactors, when they should have left it for Ontario to run. What was it, $700 million lost at Coleson Cove for orimulsion?

Ya, lets spend millions to look at medical isotopes, the NBPower track record on additional revenue generation is so sparkling, why not try another financial miracle flier. Who the hell is going to sign a contract with Lepreau when they have a 27% availability figure?

Don't get me wrong, I have been equally frustrated with NB Power in recent years, but I wouldn't dismiss this idea.

This isn't some snake-oil miracle project; it is something that has been done for decades elsewhere, I believe in Ontario, and locking it into New Brunswick for the coming decades would be a huge win. Revenue to counter the required rate rises and well-paying jobs in the SJ and Charlotte County area.

Also, a summer maintenance outage isn't as bad as it sounds, as power demand is lower than in the winter. Let's hope Ontario's involvement will improve the execution of future maintenance windows.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by thefishingnut

Idiocy. 27% availability in 24/25 fiscal according to the article. 5 month outage for maintenance ending in December, run for a few months until another 119 day maintenance window starting in April. Anyone want to bet on that one finishing on time? Apparently having all hands on deck to improve the availability catastrophe isn't the priority.

A financial basketcase. Millions lost trying to turn salt water into power in Belledune. Millions lost on modular reactors, when they should have left it for Ontario to run. What was it, $700 million lost at Coleson Cove for orimulsion?

Ya, lets spend millions to look at medical isotopes, the NBPower track record on additional revenue generation is so sparkling, why not try another financial miracle flier. Who the hell is going to sign a contract with Lepreau when they have a 27% availability figure?

NB Power is a joke… but are there any air quality benefits from the upgrades they invested in for Orimulsion, or was it really just $700 million wasted? If so, I’m starting to understand why Shaun Graham was such a hated premier. That seawater to hydrogen stuff might not have been as huge of a loss as the Orimulsion fiasco, but it was far stupider.

I’ve heard so many stories about NB Power being one of the most poorly run, bloated, and inefficient crown corporations in the country, yet somehow we have cheaper electricity costs than a lot of other places in Canada.

There’s still a huge opportunity for a second CANDU at Point Lepreau, along with SMR projects, or the fuel recycling project proposed by Moltex.

This medical isotope proposal, if realized, could help NB attract more nuclear experts to the province, and could be a catalyst towards building a second CANDU reactor, or some SMRs.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by bingun

There was more noise today from NB Power about medical isotope production. I can't remember if it was official when it was discussed last time, but today's news certainly is.

NB Power to explore medical isotope production at Point Lepreau

https://www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/new-brun...cal-isotope-production-at-point-lepreau/

• Video Link

An interesting glimpse inside Point Lepreau

[thefishingnut]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

NB Power is a joke… but are there any air quality benefits from the upgrades they invested in for Orimulsion, or was it really just $700 million wasted? If so, I’m starting to understand why Shaun Graham was such a hated premier. That seawater to hydrogen stuff might not have been as huge of a loss as the Orimulsion fiasco, but it was far stupider.

I’ve heard so many stories about NB Power being one of the most poorly run, bloated, and inefficient crown corporations in the country, yet somehow we have cheaper electricity costs than a lot of other places in Canada.

There’s still a huge opportunity for a second CANDU at Point Lepreau, along with SMR projects, or the fuel recycling project proposed by Moltex.

This medical isotope proposal, if realized, could help NB attract more nuclear experts to the province, and could be a catalyst towards building a second CANDU reactor, or some SMRs.

Our energy rates are low because they aren't paying off the debt, currently $5.7 billion, which is up by $800 million from 2020. And Mactaquac is going to cost $9 billion.

Power rates are political candy in NB. Cap the rates. Freeze the rates. Subsidize the rates. Ignore the debt, let the next government deal with it.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by thefishingnut

Our energy rates are low because they aren't paying off the debt, currently $5.7 billion, which is up by $800 million from 2020. And Mactaquac is going to cost $9 billion.

Power rates are political candy in NB. Cap the rates. Freeze the rates. Subsidize the rates. Ignore the debt, let the next government deal with it.

^ 100% correct! Power rates have been artificially low for years. Successive governments have just kicked the problem down the road. Sooner or later those chickens will come home to roost and it won't be pretty.

[bingun]

I think it will come to a head with the Mactaquac Dam; I don't think there is any way to avoid the consequences of that.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by bingun

I think it will come to a head with the Mactaquac Dam; I don't think there is any way to avoid the consequences of that.

I wonder if they could sell Mactaquac to a private entity for $1 in return for that company doing the refurbishment and NB Power signing a long term contract to buy the output?

[paperplane]

So how does this news of Lepreau looking into Medical Isotopes line up with Cross River news of their own Medical Isotopes approach that was rumoured for Lepreau area or Lorneville?

[bingun]

Originally Posted by paperplane

So how does this news of Lepreau looking into Medical Isotopes line up with Cross River news of their own Medical Isotopes approach that was rumoured for Lepreau area or Lorneville?

Maybe I am way off, but this is essentially another option to achieve the same result. Utilizing the existing reactor rather than a new one.

They would still need to partner with someone like Cross River in order to achieve that, as they aren't in the medical isotope business.

Maybe they are in discussions with someone else, or perhaps Cross River is open to this new concept.

I don't think Lorneville was ever going to happen; that was people on Facebook trying to find another excuse to hate on the industrial park.

Few details were released about the plan. NB Power says it needs to find the right partner to help develop the medical isotope scheme and then make simple changes to the plant that would allow the product to be partially developed and then shipped for finishing at an off-site processing plant, likely run by a private partner.

Clark described it as a new opportunity because the technology has advanced such that isotopes can now be created at a Candu reactor like Lepreau while the facility is still running, without having to shut it down.

“It’s a really good news story for New Brunswickers, good for employees and employees’ morale,” she said of the plant’s 900 workers. “But also good for New Brunswickers and our customers, and for the medical community.

“Life-saving medical isotopes is really exciting for the utility.”

Clark never mentioned the American firm Cross River Infrastructure Partners, which last month pitched the idea of building a new, smaller reactor in southern New Brunswick to develop isotopes.

NB Power officials provided tidbits bolstering its case, mentioning that nuclear medicine benefits over 40 million patients annually, including a million Canadians.

[paperplane]

Originally Posted by bingun

Maybe I am way off, but this is essentially another option to achieve the same result. Utilizing the existing reactor rather than a new one.

They would still need to partner with someone like Cross River in order to achieve that, as they aren't in the medical isotope business.

Maybe they are in discussions with someone else, or perhaps Cross River is open to this new concept.

I don't think Lorneville was ever going to happen; that was people on Facebook trying to find another excuse to hate on the industrial park.

It would seem odd to have both NBP and CR produce MIs in NB. Maybe it's a partnership that CR would build the processing plant in NB too.

The CR MI announcement last month was completely out of the blue, and then the Mayor of Fundy Shores/NBP seemed to indicated they had no knowledge of this, and now NBP comes out with this.

It seems as if it's, as the TJ article says, NBP is Johnny come lately, or there's some connection to things.

NBP is so beleaguered it's almost comical.