CONSTRUCTION WORK RESUMES AT BOUNDARY DAM

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
8/2/13

Construction work has resumed at SaskPower’s Boundary Dam facility in southeast Saskatchewan, Canada, after an asbestos discovery had stalled retrofit work there for several weeks. A spokesman for the utility confirmed that most workers had returned the evening of July 25, despite the discovery of a “suspicious piece of material” by a hatchway door to the boiler of the generating unit undergoing retrofit work. “It has not been confirmed to contain asbestos, and air quality test results received [last week] indicate acceptable air quality,” spokesman Tyler Hopson told GHG Monitor. He added that the area around the hatchway has been zoned off as testing and cleanup measures are underway. “Contractors in the zoned off areas will return to work in those areas once they are cleared by an independent laboratory. All other areas in Boundary Dam Unit 3 are clear and open for work,” Hopson said. 

Work on the $1.24 billion post-combustion retrofit had come to a halt last month after workers discovered traces of asbestos surrounding the gasket within the power island’s boiler. SaskPower had taken the decades-old power generation unit offline in February in order to retrofit the unit with a new boiler, turbine and control system. In an interview with GHG Monitor last month, SaskPower CEO Robert Watson said he did not anticipate the discovery to affect the project’s planned April 2014 in-service date—construction work on the project’s capture island, which is housed in an adjacent building to the main power plant, was not affected—or Boundary Dam’s overall balance sheet. “For a $1.24 billion project, I think this is going to be fairly minor in terms of cost,” Hopson said.

While SaskPower officials undoubtedly will begin looking toward hot testing, planned for this fall, what is still unclear is how last month’s asbestos discovery could impact SaskPower’s plans for its other aging electric generating units at Boundary Dam, several of which are quickly approaching the end of their economic lives as defined by a federal performance standard for coal units finalized last year. Company officials must soon decide whether to retire the units, switch to natural gas or retrofit with CCS technology. SaskPower’s President of CCS Initiatives Mike Monea did not return a request for comment.