Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station Update - May 2019

2019-05-16

Fredericton, N.B. – The Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station (PLNGS) has reconnected to the New Brunswick grid following the successful completion of a planned maintenance Outage.

The Station was taken offline last month to perform scheduled maintenance. During the Outage, approximately 8,500 planned technical maintenance activities on equipment and systems, on both the nuclear and conventional parts of the Station, were completed to improve equipment reliability.

PLNGS Outages are scheduled to coincide with seasonal increases in water flows in the hydro system and with lower seasonal electricity demand to help offset the temporary loss of the Station’s contribution to provincial energy needs. Planned outages of this nature are key investments to ensure the long-term ability of PLNGS to dependably meet the energy needs of New Brunswickers.

PLNGS Operations Results: Fiscal 2018/19

For the 2018/19 Fiscal Year, ending March 31, 2019, Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station (PLNGS) recorded another strong operational year including a 310-day run of continuous operation (Breaker-To-Breaker) between planned maintenance Outages. FY 2018/19’s performance results are comparable to last year’s, the Station’s best since 1994.

Key Performance Indicators:

Annual net electrical production of 4.86TWh (Terawatt Hours) of low carbon electricity.
PLNGS production represented approximately 45% of the total net generation from NB Power generating stations in FY 2018/19. (One Terawatt hour is the equivalent of 1 Million Megawatt hours.)

A Breaker-to-Breaker run with 310 days of continuous high power operation between planned maintenance outages. This is the longest continuous operational run in 25 years.

0.58% Forced Loss Rate (FLR) is well below the 4% target, and represents the best FLR for the Station since 2004. (FLR is the ratio of all power reductions compared to reference generation, which were not scheduled 28 days in advance.)

At 97% on the nuclear industry’s Equipment Reliability Index (ERI), the Station has achieved its best score since it started tracking this industry measure in 1995. (ERI is a 100 point cross-functional index that assesses the health and status of Station’s operations and equipment reliability through 18 sub-indicators.)

A year-end score of 91.6% for World Association of Nuclear Operators’ (WANO) primary nuclear performance metric, the Nuclear Performance Index (NPI). This is the Station’s best ever NPI result since beginning to track it in 1995.

About the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station

The Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is a 660 megawatt (net) nuclear generating station and a low carbon, base load contributor to the New Brunswick electrical grid. It produces enough non-emitting electricity to power more than 333,000 homes per year and is a foundational piece of both our domestic energy supply and our export sales. Point Lepreau is a major component of the generating assets that will contribute to the provincial goal of having as much as 75% of the electricity used in New Brunswick coming from clean, renewable or non-emitting sources by 2020.

MEDIA CONTACT: Marc Belliveau, Communications, (506) 458-4203 or mbelliveau@nbpower.com