Letter to Ontario Power Generation regarding Regulatory Hold Point 1 – Darlington Unit 3

Regulatory Operations Branch

November 28, 2022

Mr. Richard Geofroy
Senior Vice President, Nuclear
Ontario Power Generation Inc.
1 Holt Road South, P.O. Box 4000
Bowmanville, ON L1C 3Z8

Ms. Subo Sinnathamby
Senior Vice President, Refurbishment
Ontario Power Generation Inc.
1855 Energy Drive, 3C14
Courtice, ON L1E 0E7

Subject: Darlington NGS - Unit 3 Return to Service: Request for CNSC Consent to Remove the Regulatory Hold Point for Prior To Fuel Load

Dear Mr. Geofroy and Ms. Sinnathamby:

The purpose of this letter is to respond to Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) submission [1], which requests removal of Regulatory Hold Point-1 (RHP-1), allowing fuel to be loaded in the refurbished Darlington Unit 3 reactor core, and provides the associated Completion Assurance Document.

Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) staff’s assessment [2] of OPG’s submission [1], as well as all supporting documentation, concluded that OPG has met all the pre-requisites established by the Commission to remove RHP-1. Therefore, as the person authorized by the Commission and pursuant to Licence Condition 15.4 of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station (DNGS) Power Reactor Operating Licence 13.03/2025, consent to remove RHP-1 is hereby granted and fuel may now be loaded into the Unit 3 core.

Yours sincerely,

Ramzi Jammal
Executive Vice-President and
Chief Regulatory Operations Officer
Regulatory Operations Branch

c.c: A. Viktorov, J. Burta, M. Rickard, C. Loreti, N. Abonasara, A. Oussoren, C. Badal, C. Brown, C. Chan, Darlington Site Office

References:

1. OPG Letter, R. Geofroy and S. Sinnathamby to R. Jammal, “Darlington NGS Refurbishment: Unit 3 Return to Service: Request for CNSC Consent Prior to Fuel Load (RHP1)”, dated November 24, 2022
2. CNSC staff document entitled: “Request by Ontario Power Generation Inc. to Remove Regulatory Hold Point for Prior To Fuel Load for Unit 3”, dated November 27, 2022
3. CNSC Letter, J. Burta to S. Gregoris and S. Sinnathamby, “Ontario Power Generation Protocol with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for Darlington Nuclear Generating Station Unit 3 Return to Service-Revision 1”, October 19, 2021