Point Lepreau work delayed again

Two more months have been added to New Brunswick's Point Lepreau nuclear power plant refurbishment schedule, CBC News has learned.

The latest revision comes because efforts to rebuild the province's nuclear reactor missed another critical deadline last weekend.

The $1.4 billion-refurbishment, which is being handled by the federal Crown corporation Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., began in the spring of 2008, with the reactor originally scheduled to be back up and running by October 2009.

The latest setback involves the installation of calandria tubes, which are about the size of a small sewer pipe and hold fuel channels, including the nuclear fuel bundles, when the reactor is operating.

Since December, crews have been trying to remotely install 380 new calandria tubes in the plant.It's the first major step in rebuilding the station.

Although AECL set aside a month and a half to do the job, internal reports show it's now budgeted to take at least seven months and that is putting the project even further behind schedule.

Test failure

Crews planned to have the job done last weekend, but CBC News has learned that although all of the tubes were installed, several failed critical air-tightness tests.

The job can't progress until each one passes andthat won't likely happen until mid-July.

If they do all pass by July, the job will then be 17 months behind schedule with 30 per cent of AECL's work still ahead of it.

In April, NB Power President Gaetan Thomas called on AECL to speed things up.

He said the Lepreau job is critical to NB Power's financial situation. It's costing New Brunswick an extra $1 million per day to pay for replacement power and other costs while the reactor remains offline.

"The responsibility for the Lepreau completion right now is in the hands of AECL," he said."We are continuing the minister, myself, all the team on site to pressure AECL to complete their section of the work. We're ready to go."

The Point Lepreau nuclear plant has been idle for more than two years.