PICKERING -- The second hearing date into the renewal of the operating licence for the Pickering 'B' nuclear station is being held in Ajax in May. The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission announced the second date will be May 14 and the hearing will be held at the Ajax Convention Centre, next to the Hilton Garden Inn on Beck Crescent.
Ontario Power Generation is seeking a five-year licence renewal, the same length as the current licence, which expires at the end of June.
Speaking to the Community Advisory Council on Tuesday, Mark Elliott, senior vice-president of Pickering 'A', said Units 4, 5, 6 and 7 are working, while Unit 1 is off-line for maintenance in the turbine area. Unit 8 is half-way through a 58-day planned outage.
Mr. Elliott noted in the past two months, accidents on both the 'A' and 'B' sides saw workers suffer injuries that caused them to miss work.
On the 'B' side, a worker suffered a back injury "working in an awkward position" on the turbine floor, snapping a streak of 4.5 million hours without a loss-time accident, he said.
A worker hurt his back while lifting on the 'A' side, breaking a run of 2.4 million hours. Since the accident, the 'A' side has gone 240,000 hours without an accident.
"We're investigating both," he said, noting the company places a premium on safety. "We want to send our employees home each day in the same condition that they came in."
Mr. Elliott also updated the council on the business plan for the 'A' side.
There are five priorities: improving plant reliability; continuing the safe storage; implementing findings from a WANO (World Association of Nuclear Operators) review in 2006; developing people; and preparing the work.
Preparing the work involves planning projects, he said.
"Get the work ready and align the workforce to execute the work."
Some projects require 16 weeks to get the work ready, including ensuring the parts are ordered and delivered, he said.
Extra preparation means that "in the same period, we can get the more work done," Mr. Elliott said.
Other benefits include fewer breakdowns and employees are more engaged in their work, he said.
Units 2 and 3 "won't be restarted, so we put them into safe storage," he said, adding the fuel and heavy water are being removed.
WANO officials will be back next year.
"We took their advice and learnings and are putting them in place," Mr. Elliott said. "We're not doing this for them, but they have the knowledge. By doing this, we're following their lead."