On July 29, 2005, the New Brunswick government announced that it was proceeding with the refurbishment of the Point Lepreau Generating Station (PLGS) with AECL as the general contractor.

The Point Lepreau reactor was the first CANDU 6 unit in the world to be licensed for operation and to begin commercial operation. It is now the first CANDU 6 undergoing life extension.

As general contractor, AECL is managing and executing all of the fieldwork and is responsible for three aspects of the overall project:

• Retubing, in which all 380 fuel channels and associated feeder tubes are removed and replaced.
• Constructing a Solid Radioactive Waste Management Facility (SRWMF) at site to store highly radioactive material such as end fittings and pressure tubes removed from the reactor core.
• Refurbishing and upgrading a number of non-reactor station systems including upgrades to the reactor’s safety system equipment and the installation of new shutdown system trip computers.

In order to complete the project, over 50 highly automated systems for fuel channel and calandria tube replacement have been designed and developed. Many of these tools are first-of-a-kind while others are based on tools used for new reactor construction.