Atlantic Canada’s only nuclear power station has been taken offline for maintenance.
NB Power says the outage at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station began on Saturday.
The planned maintenance is expected to last for around 10 to 11 weeks, according to the utility.
“The work to be completed during this outage is diverse and includes equipment and systems work on both the nuclear and conventional parts of the Station,” the utility said in a news release.
Planned activities include routine maintenance, repairs, system modifications, inspections, and testing — work that cannot happen when the plant is online.
Officials say around 1,000 contractors and tradespeople will be involved, with most of them coming from Atlantic Canada.
Point Lepreau produces up to 705 megawatts of power and is the source of electricity for more than one-third of New Brunswick’s in-province energy requirements.
It accounted for 63 per cent of the total net generation from all stations during the second quarter of this fiscal year, according to the utility.
