Today, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) announced its decision authorizing New Brunswick Power Nuclear (NBPN) to begin activities to restart the Point Lepreau Generating Station. At this stage, the station will not produce electricity, but will restart the reactor in order to perform several safety tests under the oversight of CNSC staff. NBPN will require further CNSC regulatory approvals to increase power above 0.1% of full power and above 35% of full power.
NBPN fulfilled all the prerequisites for reactor restart as outlined in its license. A team of CNSC onsite staff and technical experts conducted a number of inspections and reviews to confirm that conditions were met and that safety tests were successfully completed.
"The CNSC is satisfied that NBPN has completed all safety tests required before removing measures that guaranteed the reactor’s safe shutdown state," said Ramzi Jammal, CNSC Executive Vice-President and Chief Regulatory Operations Officer. “As the power gradually increases and before electricity is produced, additional safety checks and approvals will be necessary.”
Source CNSC