Stephen C. Host
The third of 32 steam generators built by BWXT of Cambridge, Ontario, destined to the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station on the shore of Lake Huron, rounds a curve on the Canadian Pacific Waterloo Subdivision, formerly the Grand River Railway, during its Oct. 24, 2020, move on CP.
The generator requires three railroads for a line haul of just 84 miles. CP’s share is 10 miles on the Waterloo subdivision. CN now has the generator for 28 miles on the Huron Park and Guelph subdivisions, and will hand it off to the Goderich-Exeter Railway for a 46-mile move to a special unloading platform in Goderich. Rails to the plant were abandoned in 1988 when CN largely eliminated its Ontario branch line network, with only the Goderich subdivision remaining. As a result, these steam generators will travel the last 50 miles from Goderich to Douglas Point by truck.
The $642 million contract will last into 2030 with about three units shipped per year, with the benefit of extending the life of the nuclear plant to 2064. Older readers may remember oil trains that ran up the CNR to Douglas Point from 1969 to the early 1980s during operation of the heavy water plant, which relied on Bunker C oil to produce steam.
