Bruce extends Ontario Bruce 3 and 4 reactor life

NEW YORK, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Bruce Power extended the life of the 750-megawatt Units 3 and 4 at the Bruce nuclear power station in Ontario, the company said Tuesday in a release.

In Unit 3, which shut Sept. 15 for planned maintenance, workers are moving fuel channels that have elongated over years of high temperatures, radiation and pressure back into their original position, prolonging the reactor's life.

When Unit 3 shut, the company planned to shift more than 60 channels but this week decided to increase its target to 98 channels, of which more than 80 have already been moved.

The company does not expect this work to extend the estimated two-month length of the outage. The company still expects to return the unit in mid to late November, a company spokesman said. The company did not disclose the cost of the maintenance outage.

Unit 3 was facing the end of its operating life in 2009, Duncan Hawthorne, Bruce Power's President and CEO, said in the release. The company expects this work to extend the unit's life through 2010.

Separately, the company said the recently completed boiler inspection program at Unit 4 extended its expected operating life to 2015.

In addition, Bruce said it expects Units 1 and 2 to enter service, following overhauls, during the first half of 2010.

Previously, the company estimated Unit 2 could return in the second half of 2009. The company spokesman noted Bruce had not given specific return dates for the units and does not see this range to be materially different from previous estimates.

The 6,261 MW Bruce station is in Tiverton on the eastern shore of Lake Huron about 155 miles (250 km) northwest of Toronto. There are four 750 MW Units 1-4 at the A station, which entered service in 1977-1979, and three 822 MW Units 5-7 and one 795 MW Unit 8 at the B station (1984-1987).

The company expects to increase output of Unit 8 to about 822 MW by modifying the fuel-loading system by 2009.

One MW powers about 1,000 homes in Ontario.

Bruce Power LP, of Tiverton, Ontario, operates the entire Bruce complex and leases the Bruce B station from Ontario Power Generation, the province-owned generating company.

Bruce Power LP is owned by uranium miner Cameco Corp (CCO.TO) (31.6 percent), energy company TransCanada Corp (TRP.TO) (31.6 percent), BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust, an investment entity owned by Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (31.6 percent), the Power Workers' Union (4 percent) and the Society of Energy Professionals (1.2 percent).

Bruce Power A LP, which leases the Bruce A station from OPG, was set up when Bruce Power and the government agreed to restore the A station to full service. It is a partnership among TransCanada (47.4 percent), BPC (47.4 percent), the Power Workers' Union (4 percent) and the Society of Energy Professionals (1.2 percent). (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)