Gentilly Nuclear Generating Station (''Centrale nucléaire de Gentilly'' in French) is a former

nuclear power station A nuclear power plant (NPP), also known as a nuclear power station (NPS), nuclear generating station (NGS) or atomic power station (APS) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power st ...

located on the south shore of the

St. Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawren ...

Bécancour, Quebec Bécancour () is a city in the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec, Canada; it is the seat of the Bécancour Regional County Municipality. It is located on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River at the confluence of the Bécancour River ...

, 100 km north east of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. The site contained two

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...

s; Gentilly-1, a 250 MW CANDU-BWR prototype, that was marred by technical problems and shut down in 1977, and Gentilly-2, a 675-MW CANDU-6 reactor operated commercially by the

government-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

public utility A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and ...

Hydro-Québec Hydro-Québec () is a Canadian Crown corporations of Canada#Quebec, Crown corporation public utility headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It manages the electricity generation, generation, electric power transmission, transmission and electricity ...

between 1983 and 2012. These were the only power generating nuclear reactors in Quebec.There is also a SLOWPOKE research reactor at Montreal's

École Polytechnique (, ; also known as Polytechnique or l'X ) is a ''grande école'' located in Palaiseau, France. It specializes in science and engineering and is a founding member of the Polytechnic Institute of Paris. The school was founded in 1794 by mat ...

. The Gentilly reactors were constructed in stages between 1966 and 1983 and were originally part of a plan for 30-35 nuclear reactors in Quebec. A third reactor, Gentilly-3, was scheduled to be built on the same site but was cancelled because of a drop in demand growth in the late 1970s. In October 2012, it was decided for economic reasons not to proceed with the refurbishment of Gentilly-2, and to decommission the power plant instead. The process will take approximately 50 years to complete. That December, the remaining reactor was shut down and the decommissioning process started. In August 2023, Hydro-Québec reported it was assessing the state of the plant to determine whether or not the Gentilly-2 CANDU reactor could be recommissioned. This came as the province of Quebec looked towards options to increase its production of clean electricity. It was decided to not proceed with recommissioning Gentilly-2 due to social acceptability issues.

Gentilly-1

Gentilly-1 was a prototype CANDU- BWR reactor, based on the SGHWR design. It was designed for a net output of 250MW(e). The reactor had several features unique amongst CANDU reactors, including vertically oriented pressure tubes (allowing for the use of a single fuelling machine below the core), and light-water coolant. These features were intended to reduce the cost and complexity of the unit, again to make it an attractive export unit. However, the design was not successful, and over 7 years recorded only 180 on-power days. Gentilly-1 is no longer in operation.

Gentilly-2

Gentilly-2 was a standard CANDU 6 reactor, similar to the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station. The plant had a net output of 675MW(e). Unlike the adjacent Gentilly-1 reactor, Gentilly-2 had a good service record since start-up in 1982, with a cumulative operating factor of 76.4%. In an August 19, 2008 announcement, Québec planned to spend $1.9B to overhaul Gentilly-2 in order to extend its lifespan to 2040. Refurbishment of the reactor was eventually cancelled when on 3 October 2012, Hydro-Quebec's CEO, Thierry Vandal, announced the decommissioning of the Gentilly-2 generating station for economic reasons, scheduled to occur on 28 December 2012 at 10:30 p.m. At that time, a decommissioning process will proceed over a period of 50 years and is expected to cost $1.8 billion. The permanent shut down and decommissioning of the power plant followed an election pledge from Quebec premier

Pauline Marois Pauline Marois (; born March 29, 1949) is a retired Canadian politician, who served as the 30th premier of Quebec from 2012 to 2014. Marois had been a Member of the National Assembly (Quebec), member of the National Assembly in various ridings ...

. The Gentilly site also houses a 411MW

gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...

generation plant. The Bécancour generating station was commissioned in 1992-1993.

Gentilly-3

Gentilly-3 was a proposed nuclear reactor at the Gentilly site. It was cancelled by Quebec Premier

René Lévesque René Lévesque ( ; August 24, 1922 – November 1, 1987) was a Canadian politician and journalist who served as the 23rd premier of Quebec from 1976 to 1985. He was the first Québécois political leader since Confederation to seek, ...

. A white book study published by the

Parti Québécois The Parti Québécois (PQ; , ) is a sovereignist and social democratic provincial political party in Quebec, Canada. The PQ advocates national sovereignty for Quebec involving independence of the province of Quebec from Canada and establishi ...

(PQ) before ascending to power found that Gentilly-3 was not needed for Quebec's future energy needs and that it could be fulfilled with

hydroelectricity Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is Electricity generation, electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies 15% of the world's electricity, almost 4,210 TWh in 2023, which is more than all other Renewable energ ...

. After the election of the PQ government, a moratorium on construction of nuclear plants was put into place. The reactor had been scheduled to be completed before 1990, and was the last reactor firmly committed to by

and the Province of Quebec, though Quebec had committed to buy enough heavy water for four Candu style reactors, processed by the La Prade heavy water plant (near

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

), scheduled for 1982 opening.

References

;Notes ;References

External links

Hydro-Québec Gentilly-2 page
{{Authority control Nuclear power stations in Quebec Hydro-Québec Nuclear power stations using CANDU reactors Buildings and structures in Centre-du-Québec Former power stations in Canada

Gentilly-1

Gentilly-2

Gentilly-3

See also

References

External links