| TORONTO STAR Apr. 26, 2003 Bruce reactors set for restart Units should aid summer demand Project could cost up to $550 million JOHN SPEARS BUSINESS REPORTER Bruce Power will start to put the first of two mothballed nuclear reactors at the Bruce A nuclear plant back into service during the week of May 7 to 14, says Duncan Hawthorne, the company's chief executive. The reactor, capable of producing 750 megawatts of electricity, should be at full power by the end of the month, Hawthorne told reporters during a conference call yesterday. A second mothballed reactor of equal size will begin the start-up process the week of June 7 to 14, and will be at full power by the end of the month, Hawthorne said. If the two reactors return to service according to schedule, Bruce Power will have a total of six operating units in service during summer's peak demand months. The four units currently operating at the Bruce B plant have already churned out hefty returns for the Bruce Power partnership, thanks to high electricity prices during the cold winter months. TransCanada PipeLines Ltd. reported yesterday that its 31.6 per cent stake in Bruce Power, acquired halfway through the quarter, produced $38 million in pre-tax profits. Another partner, Cameco Inc., says it made $49 million from Bruce during the quarter. Cameco owned a 15 per cent share of Bruce Power up to Feb. 14, then increased its stake to 31.6 per cent. The two companies and Borealis Capital Corp., an affiliate of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, or OMERS pension fund, bought out the majority share in Bruce Power previously held by financially troubled British Energy. Unions representing workers at the station own a small minority interest. Bruce Power holds an 18-year lease on the Bruce nuclear station, which is owned by Ontario Power Generation Inc. Hawthorne said the partners have agreed to reinvest their profits in the facility this year. TransCanada noted in a statement that the Bruce B station was available 100 per cent of the time during the first quarter, "the best performance in the plant's history." Cameco said restarting the two Bruce A units is now expected to cost as much as $550 million — up from the previous estimate of $400 to $450 million. Hawthorne said some of the increase is an acceleration of work that had previously been scheduled for the period after the reactors had restarted. Without further investment, Hawthorne said, one of the Bruce A units will run for 8 years and the other for 13 years. |