Bruce Region
Latest updates
2013
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February 5, 2013: Bruce B Unit 8 Outage
2012
- December 17: Diesel leak at Bruce B (source: Bruce Power)
- November 29: Bruce A Unit 1 Outage (source: Bruce Power)
- October 25: Bruce A Unit 2 Gets Final CNSC Approval
- October 23: Temporary work stoppage at Bruce A unit 4 (source: Bruce Power)
- July 20: CNSC Allows Bruce A Unit 1 Restart
- July 10: The CNSC invites you to comment on Discussion Paper DIS-12-04, Regulated Timelines: Proposed Amendments to the Class I Nuclear Facilities Regulations and the Uranium Mines and Mills Regulations
- May 9: Trace amounts of tritium detected at Bruce B outfall (PDF) (source: Bruce Power)
- March 20: Bruce A Unit 2 restart activities resuming: minor moderator system repair complete
- March 18: Bruce A Unit 2 returned to guaranteed shutdown state
- March 16: CNSC Allows Bruce A Unit 2 Restart
- January 23: Discharge of water containing hydrazine at Bruce A
2011
- June 29: CNSC allows Bruce A Unit 2 fuel reload
- April 12: Update to regulatory action issued to all major nuclear facilities in Canada
- March 28: Bruce Power delays steam generator shipments (source: Bruce Power)
- March 19: Seismic activity near Bruce A and Bruce B Nuclear Generating Stations
- March 17: CNSC Request to all major nuclear facilities in Canada pursuant to Subsection 12(2) of the General Nuclear Safety and Control Regulations
- February 23: Steam Generators: How the CNSC conducted the assessment of potential environmental and health effects under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act
- February 4: CNSC Announces Decision to Issue a Transport Licence and Certificate to Bruce Power Inc. for the Transport of 16 Decommissioned Steam Generators to Sweden
- February 4: Information Update: Commission decision on Bruce Power’s plan to ship 16 steam generators to Sweden
2010
- September 28-30: Public Hearing Webcast
- September 28: Browse hearing documents for the Bruce Power Inc. application for a licence to package and transport under special arrangement:
- July 26: Presentation to Owen Sound City Council by Ramzi Jammal, CNSC Executive Vice-President and Chief Regulatory Operations Officer, on the topic of the transportation of steam generators from the Bruce Power nuclear site to Sweden for recycling.CNSC Information Updates on Bruce Power’s proposed plan to ship 16 steam generators to Sweden for recycling:
Ontario Power Generation Deep Geologic Repository
The site preparation, construction and operation of a Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) is proposed for the disposal of low- and intermediate-level radioactive wastes on the Bruce Site in Tiverton. The DGR will also hold waste produced from the continued operation of the Bruce, Pickering and Darlington nuclear generating stations.
Find out more about the status of this project.
Nuclear power plants
Bruce Power Inc. operates the Bruce A and Bruce B nuclear generating stations. Bruce A, which began operating in 1972, has four nuclear power reactors with a capacity to produce 750 megawatts of electricity each. Of these reactors, units 3 and 4 are operating at full power while units 1 and 2 are currently shut down for refurbishment to bring them to present-day operating standards.
For more information about the Bruce A restart, please see Bruce Power’s Web site.
Bruce B also comprises four reactors, each of which is licensed to produce 840 megawatts of electricity. Bruce B commenced operation in 1984 and remains in service. The four Bruce B units also produce about 40% of the world's Cobalt-60, which is used for cancer radiotherapy, to sterilize medical equipment, and to irradiate foods in order to kill microbes and prevent spoilage.
The CNSC has full-time staff who work on site at the Bruce A and B generating stations to perform inspections, evaluate operations, and verify compliance with regulatory requirements and licence conditions.
Western waste management facility
The western waste management facility is owned and operated by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and stores low level radioactive wastes from the Bruce A and B reactors as well as from the Pickering and Darlington nuclear generating stations. The western waste management facility also houses used fuel from Bruce A and B along with refurbishment waste from Bruce A.
Read more about Bruce Power’s application for a transport licence for the shipment of steam generators to Sweden for recycling.
Central maintenance and laundry facility
The central maintenance and laundry facility located at the Bruce site is owned and operated by Bruce Power, is licensed to perform decontamination and laundry activities for Bruce A and Bruce B.
Radioactive waste operations site 1
The radioactive waste operations site 1 located at the Bruce site and operated by OPG, is currently in a storage-with-surveillance mode and is closed to the receipt of new wastes.
Douglas Point used fuel dry storage facility
The AECL Douglas Point used fuel dry storage facility houses spent fuel bundles from a prototype power reactor at Douglas Point that has been permanently shut down. Decommissioning of this reactor began in 1986, and the spent fuel was subsequently transported to concrete canisters at the used fuel facility. The canisters are currently in a storage-with-surveillance mode and is closed to the receipt of new wastes.
The Bruce heavy water plant began operating in the early 1970s and ceased production in 1997. It is now in a safe shutdown condition. OPG is in the final stages of decommissioning the plant under a licence from the CNSC, which monitors these activities.
Deep geologic repository
In addition to these facilities, OPG has proposed to build a Deep Geologic Repository at the Bruce site, which would provide long-term storage for low level radioactive wastes produced at the Darlington, Pickering and Bruce nuclear generating stations. An environmental assessment has been initiated for the proposed repository, which would be constructed 660 metres underground on the western waste management facility site.
For more information about all these facilities, see the Bruce Power Web site.
Please note: Links to Web sites not under the control of the CNSC are provided solely for the convenience of users. The CNSC is not responsible for the accuracy, currency or the reliability of the content of those sites. The CNSC offers no guarantee in that regard and is not responsible for the information found through these links, nor does it endorse the sites or their content.
Users should be aware that information offered by non-Government of Canada sites, to which the Official Languages Act and certain other requirements may not apply, may be available only in the language(s) used by the sites in question.