Point Lepreau delay could jeopardize PC promise

The $1.4-billion Point Lepreau nuclear refurbishment project is facing another major delay as officials consider removing 380 brand new calandria tubes from the reactor, CBC News has learned.

Kathleen Duguay, a spokesperson with NB Power, said removing all of the tubes and starting the installationagain isone of two options being explored by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the federal Crown agency,to get the stalled refurbishment moving.

"A decision on the path forward cannot be made until all technical assessments are complete," Duguay said.

She said starting over is a real possibility, but a decision and announcement on whether to remove all of the newly installed tubes will come shortly afterNew Brunswick's Sept. 27 provincial election.

The Point Lepreau refurbishment debacle has so far not seriously factored as an election issue in New Brunswick since the Progressive Conservatives made the decision to proceed with the refurbishment during their last government with full Liberal support.

However, the latest troubles could be a problem for Tory Leader David Alward, who has promised a three-year freeze on power rates if he's elected.

The freeze was calculated on the assumption the Point Lepreau reactor would be operational by February 2012.

But if AECL takes another year to remove and reinstall the calandria tubes, thetarget datewill be unobtainable.

Alward told CBC News on Thursday that he still believes the rate freeze is viable even if the reactor overshoots party estimates.

"We feel very confident with the recommendation," he said.

Repeated delays

Work at the Point Lepreau refurbishment has been at a near standstill for five months as engineers try figure out what to do with leaky calandria tubes that hold fuel channels, including the nuclear fuel bundles, when the reactor is operating.

The calandria tubes made to house smaller nuclear pressure tubes, which in turn contain radioactive nuclear fuel bundles were the first major pieces of equipment to be installed in the reactor as part of Point Lepreau's much delayed refurbishment.

The project is now more than a year behind schedule and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.

All 380 new tubes were inserted in the reactor between December 2009 and April 2010. But dozens of the tubes flunked air tightness tests after being fused with special inserts designed to hold them in place.

Eighty failures were detected during tests of the tubes, which are attached at both ends for 760 total seals.

AECL finally acknowledged the tubes and their inserts weren't smooth enough to form a consistently tight seal and that polishing the ends would have made them fit tighter.

Eight tubes were removed from the reactor and replaced with newer polished versions and were found to fit much better.

The last of the eight was installed last Friday and all eight have passed inspection.

But replacing all of the tubes would be no small job.

It took AECL a year to remove the original calandria tubes and replace them with those now there. A second problem is that for months now,all of the tubes have been sitting in the reactor, which remains highly radioactive.