Here's what it looks like inside a nuclear power plant

Pickering Nuclear Generating Station in Ontario is one of the largest nuclear power stations in the world. CBC's Mike Crawley got a rare tour of the plant, which is off-limits to the general public.
»»» Subscribe to CBC News to watch more videos: bit.ly/1RreYWS
Connect with CBC News Online:
For breaking news, video, audio and in-depth coverage: bit.ly/1Z0m6iX
Find CBC News on Facebook: bit.ly/1WjG36m
Follow CBC News on Twitter: bit.ly/1sA5P9H
For breaking news on Twitter: bit.ly/1WjDyks
Follow CBC News on Instagram: bit.ly/1Z0iE7O
Subscribe to CBC News on Snapchat: bit.ly/3leaWsr
Download the CBC News app for iOS: apple.co/25mpsUz
Download the CBC News app for Android: bit.ly/1XxuozZ
»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»»
For more than 80 years, CBC News has been the source Canadians turn to, to keep them informed about their communities, their country and their world. Through regional and national programming on multiple platforms, including CBC Television, CBC News Network, CBC Radio, CBCNews.ca, mobile and on-demand, CBC News and its internationally recognized team of award-winning journalists deliver the breaking stories, the issues, the analyses and the personalities that matter to Canadians.

[@Alex_Plante]

I visited Pickering back in the 90s. Even though it's much smaller than Bruce, it's still very impressive.

[@CarciaBlueSky]

That is a cool,story!

[@vn8162]

Engineering is absolutely beautiful

[@christopherleubner6633]

That body scanner uses a mix of argon and methane to detect radiation, sorta like a very large geiger counter tube but the gas slowly flows through it. They are very sensitive especially for beta and alpha contamination ❤

[@Zxarr]

When I was a kid, my father worked a a Draftsman at Ontario Hydro. I never saw Pickering, but Darlington was of similar design. Before Darlington was completed, all the families got a picnic and a tour. I remember seeing the 'core' and so wanted it to look space-age and cool... instead it was just a bunch of tube caps. I also remember the coolant pool well before it was filled with water. I remember seeing a soccer ball at the bottom of the pool, but memories are a funny thing, so it may not be true, just one of those weird little child-like fantasies. I mean, you'd never lose the ball!

[@dylanc9174]

Yes, now build more.

[@MaverickBlue42]

I don't understand why people are so against building modern nuclear plants that are 3 times safer than these ancient 1960's plants, with their refurbished 1980's computer systems....

[@missano3856]

CANDU's have been tremendous reactors, maybe the best. There is no problem building more reactors of this basic design.

[@MaverickBlue42]

@@missano3856 Or, we could be building thorium reactors which produce far less nuclear waste, and have even less risk of nuclear meltdown...

[@duckking404]

So true, these are a piece of art. People probably dislike it because it has “nuclear” in it, with things such as nuclear waste which are much more better contained than before

[@paulanderson7796]

@@MaverickBlue42 Whist I agree, there are other issues associated with the thorium fuel cycle. Historically has that been adopted first we'd have stuck with it. Both cycles have their own merits and demerits.

[@paulanderson7796]

@@duckking404 They don't create that much waste at all. There is a fortune being made from the "management" of reactor "waste". Governments are wrapped up in the same thing. Money money money

[@Kyleigh-Hughes]

Okay but where is the safety technician working in sector 7-G? I wanted some input from that particular individual.

[@littlesquirtthefireengine5478]

I was always wondering what the turbine looked like. I had no idea! Great video.

[@crabbyhayes1076]

I worked for one of the equipment and service vendors at the Pickering station back in the 90s for several years, prior to returning to the US. It wasn't unusual to attend back-to-back meetings at Units at opposite ends of the station. That effort would require about a half-mile walk and several scans along the way. Boy, did I lose weight. It was great working with the Ontario Hydro people - although I can't say I miss the winters.

[@Dasycottus]

Nuclear power is amazing. I wish people weren't so scared of it. It's absolutely fabulous

[@haroldfarthington7492]

the fossil fuel industry has to keep it from growing too powerful

[@insynthesiswithinfiniteis2318]

Yeah, all those people who moved out of Pripyat? What were they thinking? And Fukushima, I mean seriously, it's just ionizing radiation, right?

[@stuckinmud00]

Good and bad to everything. Aside from the obvious, the only big issue still pressing is long term storage of depleted fuel. Once they have fusion figured out, it’ll be way better

[@insynthesiswithinfiniteis2318]

@@stuckinmud00 There are plenty of other big issues with fission. Mining, refining, and manufacturing nuclear fuel has had disastrous effects of people, and ecosystems, for example.

[@insynthesiswithinfiniteis2318]

@@stuckinmud00 I wish we could stop wasting trillions trying to prop up fission, it is a failed technology. We need to be funding fusion, it has been grossly underfunded for decades.

[@nagasako7]

I'm American, but read about Canadian CANDU reactors and how stable they are. Canada should make it national priority to use NPPs over fossil fuels. And bonus, export electricity to lower 48 U States.

[@Jeff-lf4hy]

Excellent work

[@ericm1430]

a CBC video without comments disabled, thats different.

[@CarciaBlueSky]

That is what I would imagine!

[@SpikeyTech]

Nuclear (fission) energy isn't perfect, but it's what we need in the meantime while we continue to research fusion energy. "Don't let perfection be the enemy of good", and nuclear is leagues better and safer than coal (don't forget, coal is radioactive too and pollutes a LOT).

[@johnjones5354]

Cheap fusion energy is only 10 years away, just like it has been for the last 50 years.

[@ronblack7870]

i was in there in 1982 when i had a summer job in the engineering dept at ontario hydro. i worked for 2 engineers and we did an inspection there to see how the new units were progressing. i think unit 6 or 7 is where i was. it was under construction . i remember having to put on tyvek booties and then walking out on top of the reactor where the control rods were . i couldn't tell you what the purpose of the tour was. also remember a pipefitter was covering some pipes with lead pipe split in half about 1 inch thick. he would cover it then solder the 2 halves together.

[@setituptoblowitup]

🐂💩 a solder isn't A Weld complete ant total lack of fusion⚛️💯

[@R7Romeo]

Thats wild. But that was a fantastic walk thru of your facility.

[@vandavis000]

Wow. Thanks for showing us how yall make our lives easier with power. You rock❤

[@ShooterMcNut]

Really refreshing to see such care taken, I realize why, but it seems like maintenance and taking care of equipment and staff have taken a backseat to profits across industries.

[@runswithscissors1570]

You know what’s wild to think about, a lot of these technologies were discovered in the last

[@techcafe0]

i was hoping for a more extensive tour of the power plant, it was just starting to get interesting.

[@BerlietGBC]

There is a full movie of a Indian CANDU it’s very interesting

[@JonathanFisherS]

This is truly the only clean unlimited energy source! Imagine greenhouses that could heat and cool themselves in any place on the earth or unlimited water desalination!

[@xXYannuschXx]

"This is truly the only clean unlimited energy source!" 1. We have a VERY finite amount of fissile material that can be used for nuclear fission reactors on this planet. 2. Its still the most expensive source of energy we have, especially with modern safety standards. We either find a way to have cheap fusion reactors (where we have thousands of years of fuel on our planet) or we need to continue to expand renewables.

[@kneckebrod5721]

⁠@@xXYannuschXxusing nuclear reprocessing and breeder reactors we have a very long-term fuel source, possibly thousands of years. historically nuclear power has been as cheap or cheaper than coal, but only now that construction is getting more expensive due to the global economic downturn is the price climbing higher. this is still only an initial cost

[@cannack]

@@xXYannuschXx fusion is the future yes, and the recent advances with tokomaks has cemented my belief in that. Thing is, its still EASILY 20, likely 30-50 years until it is a significant, widespread reality. these machines require much greater auxiliary infrastructure. And fuel is not running low, Canada sits on a radioisotope goldmine. CANDU runs straight natural uranium (99.3% u 233), a max load they`ll swap out 5500 fuel bundles per year, 1100 pellets each about 20 grams, like 120 tonnes of oxide per year. estimates of U208 reserves alone exceed 700,000 metric tonnes CANDU and other reactors also produce the tritium fusion reactors NEED to function. Fusion is coming for sure, but safe nuclear is viable now, and arguably necessary less we discover a biblical deposit of tritium.

[@ThatJay283]

exactly. gen 4+ reactor designs producing their own fissile materials will be huge. all of that valuable energy still locked up in dry cask storage will be repurposed and actually useful again for so much longer.

[@insynthesiswithinfiniteis2318]

Ask the people of Fukushima and Chernobyl how clean it is, or perhaps the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the environmental disasters of uranium mining, or Plutonium reprocessing?

[@robertedwards7695]

Amazing! What was that switch for? No not that one. Yes that one.😮 .

[@yooper8778]

Bravo!

[@ghostmasterson5446]

Nice video! Passed my 2nd class power engineer's exam in October. 🎉😂 👍

[@afzaalahmad547]

Fascinating

People come from all over the world to study the Canadian nuclear program as it's efficiency and safety record is second to none.....

[@wolfcatsden]

I wish someone would find footage of inside Douglas Point as its going to be gone soon as they are decommissioning it. being the first and start of it all for the bruce site it would be nice for history a record of it

[@placeholdername0000]

Recomission unit 2 and 3!

[@therandomytchannel4318]

I visited a natural gas power station and the turbine hall was so loud, we wore ear protection in there, but it sure was interesting, at the time 🙂

[@legitbeans9078]

cool

[@CawfeeGasBlast]

Is that guy in the yellow suit named Darth Vader...from the planet Vulcan ?

[@cotyreed047360]

That duty shift managers hair!!!😂

[@tonyjabrony7025]

The real unsung heros are those who pick up materials for the lab

[@stonedeprado8101]

What job title would that be

[@christopherleubner6633]

Yup getting samples of the gas emissions, primary and secondary loop boiler water in order to detect problems very early on. ❤

[@patjohnston4047]

​@@christopherleubner6633Ever changed out the filters from the reactor core while all your body alarms are going off and your supervisor tells you to keep going? 😂

[@christopherleubner6633]

@patjohnston4047 yup when they start beeping is a bit scary, but they do tell the rate and have a timer to let you know how long you have to medium rare.🤪

[@steelcityspeedshopj.r6942]

What a job ❤

[@ShivakumarNagaraja-sy9xw]

Hatsoff

[@user-io4cq2ks5r]

Surprised they let you into the Control Room of an active reactor and not a Simulator Control room.

[@robsyoutube]

Especially showing off how much windows is in place of dumb terminals. You could see a number of icons on the screen as well for anyone scouting out for end of life software if they are planning a cyber attack. Really risky.

[@jamespowell7302]

@@robsyoutube Hard to beat an air gap for security...

[@robsyoutube]

Stuxnet sure did, so did flame. All because their adversary knew what hardware and software to expect from a very foolishly proud Iranian government. @@jamespowell7302

[@rafaelnerymendonca]

how about make nuclear fucion with sounds wave like direnet frequency

[@patjohnston4047]

I wonder how often the plant has to do a full blown sq meter survey.

[@davidfalconer8913]

Atomic energy establishments are quite awesome to work in ! ( AEA , near Didcot , UK ) ...... DAVE™🛑

[@ItsRobby5436]

Nuclear Energy is so damn facinating. Sure it leaves a negative taste on the mouth when you think of accidents. but it can be so damn amazing and beautiful and for its time its absolutely still high tech!

[@kenholt3859]

If Chernobyl's any guide, it leaves a metallic taste in your mouth ;)

[@420sakura1]

@@kenholt3859that was a special case. And we iearnrd from it and put safety to not let it happen again.

[@antonis476]

​@@kenholt3859good joke, not great not terrible

[@elgoog7830]

Why they store those turbine shafts like that? A crankshaft from a diesel or gasoline engine, needs to be stored standing straight up and down. Gravity will make it bend in the middle. Or am I missing something?

[@stuckinmud00]

They’re usually on stands that keep them continuously rotating at a very low speed to prevent sagging. These ones don’t appear to be, and I’m not sure why. Possibly just very short term storage before they’re moved out for refurbishment

[@seanrrichards]

Show MORE!!!!

[@gus91340]

Engineering Marvel!👏🏻

[@just_some_internet_guy]

A great friend to me, Lorne Haacke, once worked there. Anyone know him?

[@Greysquirrel98]

Imagine discovering how to split the ATOM, the very thing that holds the universe together, and using it to boil water.

[@adamk203]

Coincidentally, water just so happens to be one of the best possible working fluids out there, and it's available to us in abundance.

[@haroldfarthington7492]

Nearly every power source in history

[@NoTraceOfSense]

best way to generate electricity is with a generator best way to turn a generator is with a steam turbine best way to make steam is nuclear energy

[@Pfromm007]

Water is known as the universal solvent for good reason. The fact that it can act as effective shielding while at the same time facilitating a controlled and sustained fission reaction makes it the best possible moderator.

[@Lee2k4]

So was it figured out that this energy could be harnessed to make electricity first or to make a bomb?

[@user-dx6dt4vm6w]

Never forget about safety. Use Softgle Comfort

[@setituptoblowitup]

Yes that's cool I want to see the molaculs come apart⚛️👾

[@josetteandres]

Terrifying to think what would happen if something bad happened there considering how big the place is

[@firedogman2280]

Btw, not every plant is like this, some plants allow you to see the reactor, while others don't. It's a design thing

[@randomrazr]

thumbnail looked like backrooms video

[@jamesdelcol3701]

I think we can do a lot with miniature nuclear technology. This is going to be great. We can do great things with the smaller reactors. There are prototypes being developed. And they aren't as dangerous. Not to stop the big ones from being built better, safer by fixing existing reactors and advancing the technology. They can make this very economical. Electric cars, high speed rails and nuclear energy maybe what we do reducing the need for so much fossil fuels from use. We can drop the usage down or change how we refine it. They are working with all the data. I think we are close to a revolution with nuclear technology that may add to our power grid in a big way. And I believe they are one discovery away from this being something that fills our power grids nationwide. All kinds of other technology will advance. I hope I live long enough to see what is going to happen. Fascinating! Hydro tech, wind tech, solar tech, nuclear tech. Computer AI tech can be designed to warn people and offer information in real-time to fix all problems with a nuclear reactor. AI will not take jobs here, it will solve complex problems and assist technicians so that it is never dangerous. It can be built so that it is never dangerous with AI integral to the system to monitor every mechanical process. It is going to be the safest and cleanest energy source in the future. We need it.

[@HamidA-to8vy]

The control room still analog and does not have any cams

[@Henrik.S8]

Now I know who Ronny Pickering is

[@stickynorth]

CANDU reactors are truly the best designed and most durable type of nuclear power program that exists and if this country truly wants to get itself off fossil fuels it would reinvest heavily in this program... Refurbish all the existing reactors and open new ones using the CANDU Monark 1000 design... Each reactor can produce 1 GW of baseload power which is awesome in its size and scope... I urge the federal and provincial governments to not only work together on this but also to sell these reactors to places like the USA which need new clean power sources and ways to get ride of their nuclear waste stockpile... Something CANDU reactors can do quite well!

[@yugc7395]

Back room?

[@raffycamulataldamar6645]

Interesting

[@antf334]

Bro who hired the Gta prison guard as voice fr 0:29

[@rastyrebwar784]

The control room looks like 80s

[@CawfeeGasBlast]

No large sign stating 'DONT BE A HOMER !' ???

[@muhammadawisabdshahadan1117]

Boleh cuba nuclear di Indonesia/sabah/sarawak kesannya👍🎉🥳

[@cher4500]

What if they are exposed and they were sent to there doctor's etc. Could raidation be on anything they carry home also? If they never would tell them what there radiation levels was. Why would they not?

[@stuckinmud00]

You get exposed daily, but extremely low levels and you wear dosimetry gear to keep a close count on your intake both total and rate. It’s damn near impossible to take anything radioactive home. You stand in so many monitors both on the way in and the way out of the building that are so sensitive that radon will set them off. I’ve been stuck waiting for radiation protection to come check me out from setting off the monitors just from being rained on outside a bit. The rain will alarm for radon. They’re wildly sensitive and accurate.

[@jonnyirvine8716]

Jezz I’d find it pretty boring in the control room just sitting looking at buttons & leds for hours

[@Dirtydollars020]

I’m a boiler operator trying to figure out how to get involved in this

[@stuckinmud00]

Just wait for a posting. They occasionally look for nuclear operators. Thats where you start. Few years of training and you can work your way up to an ANO (authorized nuclear operator) who is in the control room directly looking after a unit.

[@jorgeraymason]

These guys work for the Lethal Company

[@mijarulhak2040]

Good

[@andyfeimsternfei8408]

1980s (mostly 50s) control technology still used because the antinuke people won't let the industry modernize. They are responsible for almost all nuclear accidents.

[@seanb658]

lmao, an off the shelf schlage lock for their control room. wow.

[@rationalmkr1467]

There should be college or university providing this type of knowledge informing nuclear program, build a university

[@azmrblack]

Nuclear power is going to be one of the necessary things in the future - we can't generate enough electricity using natural methods like wind, water and solar Your only option left without carbon pollution is Nuclear, and with more and more electrical demand, well...

[@haroldfarthington7492]

Common sense yeah

[@alexmaccity]

that "digital control system" is called S.C.A.D.A.

[@phalanx9005]

Nuclear power is genuinely the way forward. The phasing out of fossil fuels and replacement of it with nuclear and renewables should be the world's priority.

[@dtrain-uwu]

Seeing all this fancy tech and equipment make me realize how dumb I am

[@WassermeloneCat]

Isn't so complicated. Just boiling water using uranium. Or thorium

[@joaquinvaleri7022]

And the whole world like my country Argentina 🇦🇷

[@mikedevo363]

i would start pushing buttons and pretend on was on the star ship enterprise. warp speed.

[@taylorozbourne2052]

I'm here because of homer simpson 😂😂😂

[@user-tc3fd7nc2k]

Does uranium come from Uranus!

[@codyshadzik1179]

What happens if the power goes out there

[@FridayNightFilmsCA]

There's a video form the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission on KZbin that discribes a station blackout situation. Basically the reactor will shut down, and because of the passive designs of CANDU it will basically just chill out. Worse case they have to use fire trucks to keep the massive pool of water the reactor sits in full but do to the volume of water it will take a long time and natural circulation of the pool will it cool for a reasonably long time. The downside of this design is it's pretty expensive but it's pretty genius thinking. "CNSC total station backout"

[@derpymcderpello5381]

Diesel generators keep the pumps running for any

[@romer-cd4il]

The sites I’ve seen have had multiple redundant off site power sources, then twice as many permanently installed emergency diesel generators as needed with fuel to run for days at full load, then several portable diesel generators stored in separate buildings on site just in case the permanent ones get damaged. Then there are also large battery banks for the most critical components necessary to cool the reactor. Finally, there are multiple facilities in the country that keep emergency generators and other equipment on hand constantly ready to be airlifted to any nuclear site suffering a major disaster.

[@aleksanderkuncwicz7277]

I think its for going to space to nuclear energy.

[@andubyanduby2604]

Why are reactor 6 and 8 such similar colors? Seems like that could lead to a mistake

[@ependergrass]

I noticed that too, and right after mentioning unit 5 was pink to avoid errors 😂

[@michaelanderson3096]

Mini nuclear power plants are the way to go.

[@wweems1953]

Why do you think that?

[@test40323]

Where are the doughnuts? Are there any disaster recovery simulations or exercises?

[@my2iu]

It’s Pickering, so they don’t really perform proper disaster planning. If it has a meltdown, it will irradiate half of Toronto, but they don’t want to scare anyone, so they don’t run proper disaster exercises nor distribute enough iodine pills to everyone nor provide information on evacuation plans in a nuclear emergency. It’s supposed to shut down, but the Ontario government screwed up their electricity plans, so they’re keeping it open.

[@romer-cd4il]

Reactor operators go through years of training going through responding to practically any problem one could imagine. They also have to prove this knowledge many times each year through ongoing training

[@butwhytharum]

ancient controls

[@serialseatsniffer5610]

What are we talking aboot today😊

[@tonyjabrony7025]

That guy looks unsure

[@jakenielsen88]

I didn't see graphite

[@Porag98-sb7em]

Please give me chemical work in power plant

[@joeyjennings9548]

Where's Homer 😳?

[@Dex0z]

The moment you upgrade to digital problems will likely arise

[@joaquinvaleri7022]

Or i'm not ruin so yeah i'm not even ruin it i repeat

[@m.e.345]

Those pink doors are the ladies entrance.. men use a different door.

[@joaquinvaleri7022]

And they know what i'm saying

[@OnnSight]

cool to see how it works but the music annoying af

[@robsyoutube]

Wow windows in the control room rather than dumb terminals. Scary stuff. I hope they are not networked. edit: I can only imagine how insecure a newer plant is post 90's/early 2000s. With all sorts of end of life software with networking support rather than just serial lines going to a PDP clone like the candu's use.

[@hoverbeaver]

"Like the candus?" Pickering *IS* a CANDU reactor facility.

[@Ukraine2011]

Well hell. That's a nice wonderful safe method of entering a nuclear power plant. Just scan the door once then hold the door open for every other yoko to walk in unchallenged 😮

[@user-pi3in8fn6y]

i'm shocked by seeing these many buttons in control room😑😪😪🤥😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

[@Kodey-el3yp]

Is this the one spot China couldn't get to so we put it on TV for them?

[@nchurly]

What if visitor will run from one control panel to another while pressing buttons and turning switches? What will operators do, try to neutralize the visitor first or turn switches back? 🤣

[@freighter1097]

As someone who works in nuke plants for maintenance outages, someone trying that would not be alive very long. They take security very serious inside. That would likely get you shot. That said, anyone coming inside is heavily vetted before being allowed even into a control room.

Well if it helps you, the Nearby Darlington Nuclear plant has won the world SWAT TEAM competition several times so I'm thinking if you start pushing buttons they'd drop you like a bad habit......😮

[@danielbelmir0]

In the nuclear power plant I work sometimes the operators were afraid I would screw up something working with protection relays(there's often the risk of working on the wrong equipment). I think that if even we, maintenance workers, are sometimes very limited in what we can do, I think that they wouldn't even let a strange come close to the control boards. Where I work, the floor has two colors, blue and a lighter shade of blue, so if you're not an operator and if you don't have a reason(like working in some equipment, or cleaning idk) you are not supposed to step on the tiles with darker shades of blue. Also, because of incidents that happened in other power plants, the number of people that can enter the control room is limited. Also there's another thing, I was working for example in the circuit of a disconnect switch, and the operators were afraid we would screw something up while investigating, but after analysing the drawings, that circuit is interlocking so the disconnect can't be operated by accident, so in my example, you can see the operators are very protective, so even as a worker, the operators will keep an eye on you. And as in my other example, some systems are interlocked so in case you do something really wrong, nothing will happen. And even if something really bad happens(for example if you shut down some important pump), the reactor will trip and most of the time there's only economical loss, with no power being generated, there will be no money being made. So as you can see, before something happens, there are multiple layers, first they don't let unauthorized people enter the power plant, the access to the control room is limited, if you go to the control room, there are places you can walk and other places you can't, unless you are working on something, inspecting something for a reason, if you have a reason to be near the control boards, the operators won't allow you to do anything risky, if you mess up something, the worst thing that happens is usually a reactor trip.

[@shenaneggans]

in my opinion i should be allowed to walk around the nuclear power plant

[@shariqueahmer11]

What will happen if I push all the buttons?

[@jsgll...godgunsliberty1197]

Damn even your audio mics are as old as our nuclear technology