Point Lepreau nuclear power plant
Point Lepreau nuclear power plant is a nuclear power station in Canada with 1 operating unit totalling 705 MW gross. The site has 4 units on record in total.
Units
| Unit | Status | Type | Model | Gross MW | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | PHWR | CANDU 6 | 705 | 1983 | |
| Unit 2 | Cancelled | - | - | 1,100 | - |
| Unit SMR 1 | Pre-construction | - | ARC-100 | 100 | 2029 |
| Unit SMR 2 | Announced | MSR | SSR-W | 300 | 2030 |
Unit by unit
Each unit's rating, type and milestone dates as recorded by the Global Nuclear Power Tracker, with any correction we made to it. A dash or "not disclosed" means the source does not give the value.
Point Lepreau nuclear power plant 1
| Reactor type | Pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | CANDU 6 |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 705MW |
| Net capacity | 660MW |
| Thermal output | 2,180MWt |
| Enrichment | Natural uranium, 0.71% U-235no enrichment required |
| NSSS vendor | AtkinsRéalis (Candu Energy) |
| Planned retirement | 2040planned, not actual |
| Owner | New Brunswick Electric Power Commission100% |
| Operator | New Brunswick Electric Power Commission |
| Construction start | 1 May 1975 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 25 Jul 1982 |
| Grid connection | 11 Sep 1982 |
| Commercial operation | 1 Feb 1983 |
Point Lepreau nuclear power plant 2 Cancelled
| Reactor type | not disclosed |
|---|---|
| Model | not disclosed |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 1,100MW |
| Net capacity | not disclosed |
| Thermal output | not disclosed |
| Enrichment | not established |
| NSSS vendor | not on record |
| Cancelled | 2012 |
| Owner | NB Power100% |
| Milestones | no dates on record |
|---|
Point Lepreau nuclear power plant SMR 1 Pre-construction
| Reactor type | small modular reactor |
|---|---|
| Model | ARC-100 |
| Size class | Small |
| Gross capacity | 100MW |
| Net capacity | not disclosed |
| Thermal output | not disclosed |
| Enrichment | not established |
| NSSS vendor | not on record |
| Owner | NB Power100% |
| Commercial operation | 1 Jan 2029 |
|---|
Point Lepreau nuclear power plant SMR 2 Announced
| Reactor type | Molten salt reactor (MSR) |
|---|---|
| Model | SSR-W |
| Size class | Small |
| Gross capacity | 300MW |
| Net capacity | not disclosed |
| Thermal output | not disclosed |
| Enrichment | 5–20% U-235, often HALEU |
| NSSS vendor | not on record |
| Owner | Government of New Brunswick NB Power |
| Operator | NB Power |
| Commercial operation | 1 Jan 2030 |
|---|
Point Lepreau nuclear power plant in context
By gross operating capacity Point Lepreau nuclear power plant is the 4th largest of 4 operating nuclear sites in Canada, holding 5% of the country's operating capacity, and ranks 163rd of 172 worldwide.
Its operating unit started up in 1983; the unit is 43.0 years old, older than the median of 41.0 in Canada.
The one unit with both construction and grid dates on record took 7.4 years from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 1980s is 7.3 years.
No other nuclear site with an exact position in this dataset lies within 300 km.
The tracker lists a planned retirement year, a forecast and not a decision on record, for 1 operating unit: Unit 1 (2040).
Build time by unit
| Unit | Construction start | Grid connection | Years | Fleet median, same decade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | 1975 | 1982 | 7.4 | 7.3 (1980s) |
How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.
Earthquakes nearby
Loading the latest USGS check…
| Time (UTC) | Mag | Depth | Epicentre | Distance |
|---|
Magnitude 4.0 and above within 200 km of Point Lepreau nuclear power plant's listed coordinates, past 30 days. This is distance, not shaking: it says nothing about damage or any change in operation. Every plant.
| Location | New Brunswick, Canada |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 45.0686, -66.4543 |
| Elevation | about 25 mabove sea level |
| Setting | On the sea coast, 0.9 km from the water |
| Region | Northern America |
| Units by status | Operating: 1 Cancelled: 1 Pre-construction: 1 Announced: 1 |
Elevation is read at the listed coordinates from a 30 m terrain model (SRTM 30 m). Two independent models differ by a median of 6 m across our plants and by up to about 40 m on steep or coastal ground, and a point on a shoreline can read as sea level. Distance to the water is measured to a generalised 1:10 million coastline, so a few kilometres or less is not resolved. This is context, not a design-basis or flood-risk figure.
| Owners | New Brunswick Electric Power Commission NB Power Government of New Brunswick |
|---|---|
| Operators | New Brunswick Electric Power Commission NB Power |
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Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
- GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data