Bruce Power has asked Canada's National Energy Board to approve a plan to export up to 2,000 MW at any one time and up to 7 million MWh/year to the US from its Bruce nuclear station near Kincardine, Ontario, it said Wednesday.

    A spokesman said the generator's export-license application to the NEB was "part of our long-term planning process. A lot of other major generators
in [Ontario] have export licenses."  Bruce Power had applied for such a license "to keep [its] options open" for the "shoulder months" when in-province demand was low and excess power would be available, he said.  "We can't store power," he said, adding that during low-demand periods there was ample transmission capacity available to send power to New York and Michigan. Quebec would also be a potential market, he said, adding that no
export license was needed to send power there. According to its export-license application, Bruce Power would cap its monthly exports at 1 million MWh.  Bruce Power has not yet contacted potential power buyers in New York and Michigan, the spokesman said, adding that it was "early in the process" and that Bruce Power would seek out buyers once its export license was in hand.

    Bruce Power is a partnership that leases Ontario Power Generation's Bruce station. A partnership of Cameco, TransCanada, the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, and two unions representing workers at the station leases and operates the four nuclear units at the Bruce B portion of the facility. (Platts,6/12/2006)