Bruce Power takes Unit 5 offline, second half of privately funded refurbishment begins

Bruce Power began its Unit 5 Major Component Replacement outage on Nov. 1, the utility said, opening the second half of a privately funded program that will see Units 3 through 8 renewed and, in the company's account, overlapping outages continuing at the Bruce site until 2033.¹

The company said Unit 5 was taken off-line for its scheduled outage safely and successfully, with renewed Units 6 and 3 operating and Unit 4 setting records in its own refurbishment outage. Unit 4's MCR outage began in 2025 and is tracking ahead of the Unit 3 outage, according to Bruce Power.¹

What earlier outages returned

Bruce Power said its first MCR outage, in Unit 6, was completed ahead of schedule and under budget in 2023, with $52 million delivered back to Ontario ratepayers. Unit 3 was brought back online in June, more than seven months ahead of schedule, and returned approximately $150 million to ratepayers through the Independent Electricity System Operator, the company said.¹

The company said it has applied lessons from each outage and developed technology to improve performance in each successive one. Unit 3's outage was the first to use robotics on a nuclear reactor face, according to Bruce Power.¹

Our performance gets better with each MCR outage and we’re committed to delivering these projects safely with high quality and on time to return reliable units to power Ontario forward¹Eric Chassard, Bruce Power's President and Chief Executive Officer

Jobs and spending

Stephen Lecce, Ontario's Minister of Energy and Mines, said in the release that 95 per cent of Bruce Power's spending stays in Canada and that the work sustains 22,000 jobs and approximately $4 billion in economic benefits every year. The release did not give a baseline year or method for those figures.¹

Extending the life of this critical asset will deliver reliable, affordable electricity, while strengthening Ontario’s position as a global energy superpower that can refurbish nuclear plants on time and on budget.¹Stephen Lecce, Ontario Minister of Energy and Mines

Lisa Thompson, MPP for Huron-Bruce, said each completed refurbishment is producing results for ratepayers while supporting skilled trades, suppliers and businesses. Bruce Power said the program also ensures a dependable source of cancer-fighting medical isotopes for the world health-care community.¹

What comes next

Unit 7's MCR is scheduled to begin in 2028 and Unit 8 in 2030, Bruce Power said. Ontario is also evaluating a second MCR for Units 1 and 2, which were refurbished and returned to service in 2012 after being laid up in the late 1990s, according to the company.¹

Bruce Power described the scale of the remaining work as a magnitude no other utility in the world has faced. The release did not state a cost estimate for Unit 5's outage or a completion date for it.¹