for refurbishment. However, the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board ruled that "there is no significant economic advantage to the proposed refurbishment" of Point Lepreau and that "it is not in the public interest". In April 2004, a report authored by former British Energy chairman Robin Jeffrey estimated the plant's refurbishment would cost $1.36 billion instead of the C$935 million figure quoted at the time by the provincial utility. Jeffrey's report made no recommendations on whether to undertake the plant's overhaul or not but advised New Brunswick decision makers to seek competitive bids for new fossil-fuel fired generation capacity. Despite being denied a federal grant to fund the project, NB Power announced on 29 July 2005 that it was awarding Atomic Energy of Canada Limited a $1.4 billion (CAD) contract for refurbishing the generating station. Refurbishment work The refurbishment of the power station began on 28 March 2008 and was originally scheduled to last 18 months with AECL as the lead contractor on the project, but the operation was marred by technical glitches, delays and incidents. For instance, two 115-tonne turbine rotors, (not part of the AECL contract) worth C$10 million each, toppled a barge in Saint John Harbour while being transported to the plant on 15 October 2008. The part manufacturer, Siemens Canada Ltd., eventually sued four companies in an Ontario court, including J. D. Irving Ltd., for "gross negligence" in the incident. Estimates for the reopening of the plant had been revised several times. In January 2009, a 3-month delay was announced because of problems with the robotic equipment used to remove pressure tubes. A second, 4-month delay was announced in July of the same year. In October 2009, New Brunswick minister of Energy, Jack Keir, announced a tentative reopening by February 2011 and asked for federal money to cope with the unexpected cost of purchased power to replace the power ordinarily generated by the plant. The situation is compounded by the strategic importance of the plant in NB Power supply plans, since Point Lepreau provides 4 TWh/year or between 25 and 30% of the provincial output. A few weeks later it was announced on 29 October 2009 that the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station would be one of the assets that were to be included in the proposed sale of NB Power to Hydro-Québec. On 24 March 2010 Premier Shawn Graham announced that the proposed sale had