Pickering Nuclear Generating Station

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Pickering Nuclear Generating Station is a Canadian nuclear power station located on the north shore of Lake Ontario in Pickering, Ontario. The facility derives its name from the City (originally Township) of Pickering in which it is located. Also co-located at the Pickering station is a single 1.8 MWe wind turbine named the OPG 7 commemorative turbine.

The facility was constructed in stages between 1966-1986 by the provincial Crown corporation, Ontario Hydro. In April 1999 Ontario Hydro was split into 5 component Crown corporations with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) taking over all electrical generating stations and which continues to operate the Pickering station.

The Pickering station is one of the largest nuclear facilities in the world and comprises 8 CANDU nuclear reactors located on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, having a total output of 4124 MW (capacity net) and 4336 MW (gross net) when all units are online. Pickering is only surpassed in Canada by the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station, which while also having 8 reactors, has a greater output.

The facility is operated as two distinct stations, Pickering A (Units 1 to 4) and Pickering B (Units 5 to 8). While primarily administrative in nature, the division is not wholly artificial, as there are some distinct differences in design between the two groups of stations. (Example: The Pickering A units employ moderator dump as a shutdown mechanism, a feature not found in Pickering B.) There are, however, a number of systems and structures in common between the two stations; the most notable of these is possibly the shared vacuum building, a negative pressure containment system.

Due to the age and material condition of its older reactors, the Pickering station underwent changes in the 1990s as some units in the PICKERING A group were placed in a layup state. Units 1 and 4 have since been refurbished and placed in commercial service. Considerable cost over-runs and project delays were experienced during the refurbishment of Unit 4.^[1] Numerous changes in executive-level staff and project management strategy were undertaken for the follow-on project to refurbish Unit 1. These changes were largely successful, as the Unit 1 project came in essentially on-budget and on-time after initial project start delays (imposed by the provincial government) are accounted for.^[2]

In August 2005, the OPG Board of Directors announced that Units 2 and 3 would not be refurbished due to specific technical and cost risks surrounding the material condition of these two units.

In 1994 Pickering Unit 7 set a world record for continuous operation (894 days) without a shutdown.

The reactors are as follows:

PICKERING A