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Congratulations to the Pickering A
Team!
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GSS Removed on Unit 4
Monday, May 5, 2003 It gives me great pleasure to announce that last night at about 8:00 p.m. the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission authorized the lifting of the Guaranteed Shutdown State (GSS) on Unit 4. The Pickering A team worked through the night and by 7:30 this morning, the GSS was removed. This is the first time OPG has almost completely rebuilt one of its nuclear units. In fact, the return to service of Pickering is the largest nuclear recovery program in the world. Since January of 2001, this project has been an enormous undertaking requiring the completion of almost 35,000 tasks, including the replacement or updating of many major system components. Its complexity became clearer with each stage of the rebuilding process. As a result, we worked against a backdrop of intense public and media scrutiny that was often negative and sometimes misinformed. With the opening of the electricity marketplace amid a sweltering summer and extremely cold and unforgiving winter, we encountered enormous pressure to finish the work as quickly as possible. However, we worked steadily with our regulator and our stakeholders every step of the way to fulfill all of our commitments. Just as important, we stayed focused on the need to work safely and never ever compromised that safety for the sake of saving time. We now have our sights set on first critically and bringing the rest of the plant up to deliver power to the grid. Bill Robinson Senior VP Pickering A |