reactors like the CANDU and the related IPHWR as well as some graphite moderated reactors like the Magnox, the AGR and the RBMK have this capability as part of their design specs to allow efficient operation at lower burnup with natural uranium or low enriched uranium fuel. Douglas Point suffered from early unreliability and heavy water leakage. The system was delicate and shut down frequently and easily; the plant was offline for more than half the time between 1968 and 1971. Repairs were expensive and time-consuming, and were made more difficult by the compact design that placed critical components in inaccessible locations. These engineering problems, including the vulnerability of the design to leaks in the primary coolant circuits, are seen and discussed in an official 1968 documentary on the reactor. Repairs were done by remote control or large teams; the latter was done to reduce the time an individual employee was exposed to radiation. Following the successful deployment of four larger 542 MWe reactors at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, the 220 MWe reactor was judged as inadequate. Plans to add another 220 MWe unit to Douglas Point were cancelled. Shutdown Douglas Point was shut down on 5 May 1984, having achieved a capacity factor of 75% in 1982, and 82% just before retirement. Douglas Point was not wholly satisfactory as an operational power plant and, being too expensive to up-scale, Ontario Hydro refused to purchase it from AECL. AECL subsequently withdrew funding. The plant is co-located with the newer Bruce Nuclear Generating Station. Bruce Power now leases the site and the newer plant from Ontario Hydro's successor company, Ontario Power Generation, although the Douglas Point structure and equipment remain owned by AECL. See also List of Canadian nuclear facilities Rajasthan Atomic Power Station References Bothwell R. Nucleus: The History of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. University of Toronto Press, 1988 External links The Historical Significance of the Douglas Point Nuclear Power Plant Buildings and structures in Bruce County Nuclear power stations in Ontario Ontario Hydro Atomic Energy of Canada Limited