Unit 4 at Pickering Nuclear ‘A’ plant officially retired

The final nuclear reactor at Pickering Nuclear’s ‘A’ Unit officially retired at noon Tuesday.

Pickering A4 entered commercial service on June 17, 1973. It was the last of the A Unit reactors to begin life and fittingly, the last to produce electricity for Ontarians as the older side of the Pickering nuclear plant is finally shut down.

One of the fastest CANDU reactors constructed – five years shovel to service – and one of just two ‘A’ reactors to still be operating after 2003, the unit leaves the four ‘B’ reactors to continue generating power for a province in dire need of clean, green energy.

Christopher Adlam, one of the two co-founders for the Canadians for Nuclear Energy lobby group, waxed poetic about A4’s history while looking forward to the future on a social media post.

“As the final whisper of steam leaves the A plant, it is bittersweet, as its sister and site mate Pickering B has a bright future ahead of it with full refurbishment and many more decades of operation.”