FAQ

No. First of all, Gentilly-2 has several automated safety systems. These include two independent emergency reactor shutdown systems and an emergency reactor core cooling system. Its reactor contains heavy water, which is used as a neutron moderator, while Chernobyl used graphite, a material that ignites at high temperature.

The Gentilly-2 reactor is also in a containment building with walls one metre thick. The building is equipped with a water spray to reduce steam pressure during an accident.

No. Reactors designed to produce radioactive isotopes are very different from those like the one at Gentilly-2 that are designed to generate electricity.

However, Gentilly-2 does produce cobalt-60, which is used to sterilize medical equipment and treat cancer. During generating station maintenance shutdowns, we load bars of cobalt into the reactor. While it is in operation, neutron radiation transforms the cobalt, producing cobalt-60, which we remove during next planned shutdown.

Commissioned in 1993, Bécancour generating station uses oil combustion gases to drive its four turbines, which have a total capacity of 400 MW.

According to the conditions of its operating permit, the generating station may only be run a maximum of 200 hours a year. Able to start without an external energy source, it is used to repower the ancillary equipment (pumps, rescue and safety equipment) at Gentilly-2 generating station during extended power system outages. We also use it to meet power needs during the winter peak.