[ RadSafe ] Quebec board OKs Gentilly nuke storage expansion

[Jaro]

Regarding Sandy's post , "Quebec board OKs Gentilly nuke storage expansion,"
I believe that the following statement in the article is inaccurate :

<quote> The proposed expansion of the storage facility, estimated to cost
about C$130 million, is only the first phase of a proposed C$1
billion refurbishment of Gentilly to keep it operating until 2035. <end
quote>


The first phase of the proposed expansion of the storage facility only
allows the plant to operate to 2013, by adding a few new dry SNF storage
modules ("MACSTOR" modules -- see
http://www.aecl.ca/index.asp?menuid=22&miid=235&layid=45&csid=95 ), so that
the plant's SNF pool can be emptied from time-to-time to make room for
freshly discharged SNF.
But these MACSTORs only cost a few million dollars each, and maybe a
half-dozen more will be needed, so I suspect that the C$130 million in fact
covers much more than phase 1, and will *not* be implemented unless further
decisions are forthcoming, to refurbish the plant & allow it to operate ~25
years more.....
The Minister's BAPE report was wellcome by local antinuke greens
("gangreen"), as it dashed our hopes of moving forward with more extensive
preparations for the refurb job.
The Gentilly-2 plant is a well-run plant, with capacity factor so far this
year of 97.5%, while for all of 2004 it was 87.9% (including the annual
maintenance outage).
For those who can read French, the BAPE report can be found at
http://www.bape.gouv.qc.ca/sections/rapports/publications/bape207.pdf (2.5
MB)
Our (CNS-Quebec) submission to the BAPE commission - also in French - may be
found at
http://www.cns-snc.ca/branches/quebec/Memoire_presente_au_BAPE_par_la_SNC-Qu
ebec_final.pdf (565 KB)


 Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

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Quebec board OKs Gentilly nuke storage expansion

NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - Quebec's public environment review board
has recommended that Hydro-Quebec be allowed to expand the
radioactive waste storage facility at the 675-megawatt Gentilly 2
nuclear power station.

The province-owned energy company has said the storage facility will
be full in 2007.

The recommendation by the board, the Quebec Bureau d'audience
publiques sur l'environnement was made public earlier this month.

Premier Jean Charest and his ministers must now decide whether to
allow Hydro-Quebec to expand the waste storage facility, a
spokeswoman at the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment
and Parks said.

The spokeswoman did not know when the ministers will take up the
Gentilly issue.

The proposed expansion of the storage facility, estimated to cost
about C$130 million, is only the first phase of a proposed C$1
billion refurbishment of Gentilly to keep it operating until 2035.

Without the refurbishment, the company will have to close the station
by 2013.

Gentilly 2 entered service in 1983. By 2002, Canadian-owned nuclear
engineering firm Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL), which designed
the plant, and Hydro-Quebec started to look at refurbishing the
facility.

If it wins approval from the province, the company has said it
expects to enlarge the waste facility in 2006 and 2007 before
shutting the station for about 18 months for the main refurbishment
in 2008 and 2009. The company has said the timetables were estimates,
which depend in part, on whether the government wants to refurbish or
shut the reactor.

The Gentilly station is located near Trois-Rivieres about 90 miles
(145 km) northeast of Montreal along the St. Lawrence River.

The reactor shut on April 15 for its annual maintenance outage.
During the outage, expected to last several weeks, the company will
inspect the feeder pipes and turbine, chemically clean the boilers,
inspect and replace some of the feeders, and reposition some of the
pressure tube spacers.

Hydro-Quebec subsidiaries own and operate more than 33,000 MW of
generating capacity, market energy commodities in Canada and the
United States, and transmit and distribute electricity to 3.6 million
customers in Quebec.

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