How much is Pt. Lepreau worth to HQ

We know Pt. Lepreau is only worth $1.4 billion to the current government that is going to sell it. Sorry, I guess I should say - sold. But how much do you think Hydro Quebec thinks it worth?

The Candu nuclear station at Pt Lepreau is a sister station to the Gentilly 2 near Montreal, Quebec. Check out the information form the CANDU website.

Pt. Lepreau is a Candu - 6 with a net capacity of 635 MW. http://www.candu.org/nbpower.html
Gentily 2 is a Candu - 6 with a net capacity of 635 MW. http://www.candu.org/hydroquebec.html

Hydro Quebec plans to overhaul it's nuclear station after AECL is done with Pt. Lepreau. Obviously a good move, given the AECL hiccups at Pt. Lepreau. But Lepreau was the first Candu6 commissioned, so only stands to reason that it is the first to be overhauled. HQ has a team at Lepreau learning the ins and outs of a nuclear station retrofit. Good idea, eh?

HQ has budgeted $1.9 Billion for their retrofit. Not sure why it's more, but could be they factored in more risk, or seen what was happening at Lepreau and updated their projections, or maybe they have more contamination and need to spend more money to complete the work safely??

Anyway, if you take a took at HQ's strategic plan on page 35, you will see some financial numbers published there. It's quite a large document. http://www.hydroquebec.com/publications/en/strategic_plan/index.html

I have copied the text pertaining to the monetary value that HQ places on Gentilly 2 here:

"A competitive cost:

During its second life cycle, which will extend from the end of 2012 until
2040, Gentilly-2 will generate nearly 135 billion kilowatthours of reliable,
non-intermittent, zero-emission power. This output represents nearly
$10 billion in constant 2012 dollars, based on a unit cost of 7.2¢/kWh (also
in constant 2012 dollars).
This competitive cost, which was a determining factor in the decision
to go ahead with the refurbishment, corresponds to the difference
between the discounted cash flows of the following two scenarios: the
scenario of a 2011 retirement, which called for operations and output to
end in March 2011, and the refurbishment scenario, which factored in
the $1.9-billion investment required, plus operating and maintenance
costs until 2040. In both cases, all costs of dismantling the generating
station and removing spent fuel were taken into account. The difference
between the scenarios is thus essentially attributable to the start
date of the decommissioning phase (2011 versus 2040)."

$ 10,000,000,000 Dollars. That's 10 Billion dollars.

That is an all inclusive value. I didn't make up the words. That's from the day the refurbishment starts, to the day it becomes a field with a plaque saying a nuclear station once lived here. ALL INCLUSIVE.

Yeah, But how much power is 135 billion kilowatt hours. It's 135 TW hours. So, with the assumption that Lepreau and Gentilly are sister stations overhauled by the same company, The AECL who design, sell, build, and refurbish nuclear reactors. Then, one could assume that the reactors will have the same (or very similair) life span and operating capacity after they are overhauled.

What does this mean. HQ plans to run Gentilly 2 for 28 years after overhaul. If Lepreau can produce the same power over the same years it will also produce 135 TW hours of electricity.
That 135 TW of electricity is worth almost $10 Billion dollars (9.7 actually) to HQ, but only worth $1.4 Billion to NB Government. And 135 TW is almost 10 years of NB heritage pool supply.

NB Power will be LEGISLATED to buy the same 135 TW of power from a station it already had paid $1.4 Billion to have overhauled.

135 TW at the fixed rate in the amended MOU, is worth $9.9 Billion dollars. This is before all rate increases get applied. And apparently an MLA in Bathurst today felt a little pressured as the result of a local protest, and spit out that the year 6 rate increase will be 8.5%.

Total loss to NB = $9.9 Billion dollars plus the other 1/2 billion less that NB Power plans to spend on it's refurb = $10.4 Billion . And that's only if HQ has it written in it's contract to pay to decommission it after they are done with it. Maybe it will be more.

I wouldn't want to be the politician that has to carry the legacy of this deal on my families name for as long as the deal lasts. Oh yeah, that's for ETERNITY.
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