Qualla: Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station

Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station: Introduction

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Number Six (bill lapp) from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, CC BY 2.0. Somewhere on the rocky northern shore of the Bay of Fundy, between the world's highest tides and the spruce-clad headlands of Charlotte County, a single nuclear reactor generates roughly a quarter of New Brunswick's electricity. Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station is the only nuclear power plant in Atlantic Canada and the only operating Canadian nuclear station outside Ontario. Its CANDU-6 reactor, with a net capacity of 660 megawatts, has produced over 168,000 gigawatt-hours of energy across its lifetime. That simple output figure conceals a history of political gambles, engineering ordeals, and at least one employee who thought spiking the cafeteria drinks with radioactive heavy water qualified as a joke.

Image: Number Six (bill lapp) from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada | CC BY 2.0

Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station: The Oil Crisis Bargain

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Number Six (bill lapp) from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, CC BY 2.0. New Brunswick had been eyeing nuclear power since the late 1950s, sending engineers to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's Chalk River Laboratories for over fifteen years. But it took the 1973 oil crisis to force the province's hand. New Brunswick depended heavily on oil-fired gene...

Image: Number Six (bill lapp) from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada | CC BY 2.0

Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station: A Reactor's Growing Pains

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Number Six (bill lapp) from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, CC BY 2.0. Point Lepreau's first decade was its best. The plant achieved a ten-year average availability of 93.11 percent and generated over 5,000 gigawatt-hours per year. Then the troubles began. In mid-January 1997, a cracked feeder pipe near the reactor core forced a 75-day shutdown, the...

Image: Number Six (bill lapp) from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada | CC BY 2.0

Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station: The Billion-Dollar Overhaul

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Number Six (bill lapp) from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, CC BY 2.0. The CANDU-6 reactor was designed to last 25 years, which put its expiration date around 2008. Public debate on refurbishment began in 2000. The New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board ruled in 2002 that refurbishment held "no significant economic advantage" and was "not in the p...

Image: Number Six (bill lapp) from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada | CC BY 2.0

Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station: Bad Jokes and Heavy Water

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Number Six (bill lapp) from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, CC BY 2.0. Point Lepreau's most bizarre incident occurred on March 5, 1990, when assistant plant operator Daniel George Maston removed slightly radioactive heavy water from the reactor's moderator system and added it to a cafeteria drink dispenser containing lime-flavored drink. Eight emplo...

Image: Number Six (bill lapp) from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada | CC BY 2.0

Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station: The Next Chapter on the Fundy Shore

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Number Six (bill lapp) from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, CC BY 2.0. Point Lepreau's future extends well beyond its refurbished CANDU reactor. In 2018, the Government of New Brunswick committed $10 million toward an advanced Small Modular Reactor Research Cluster at the site, joined by ARC Nuclear and Moltex Energy, each investing $5 million. By D...

Image: Number Six (bill lapp) from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada | CC BY 2.0