Gentilly nuclear power plant
Gentilly nuclear power plant is a nuclear site in Canada with 2 units on record. None is currently operating.
Units
| Unit | Status | Type | Model | Gross MW | Online |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Retired | PHWR | HW BLWR 250 | 266 | 1972 |
| Unit 2 | Retired | PHWR | CANDU 6 | 675 | 1983 |
Unit by unit
Each unit's rating, type and milestone dates as recorded by the Global Nuclear Power Tracker, with any correction we made to it. A dash or "not disclosed" means the source does not give the value.
Gentilly nuclear power plant 1 Retired
| Reactor type | Pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | HW BLWR 250 |
| Size class | Small |
| Gross capacity | 266MW |
| Net capacity | 250MW |
| Thermal output | 792MWt |
| Enrichment | Natural uranium, 0.71% U-235no enrichment required |
| NSSS vendor | not on record |
| Owner | Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Ltd100% |
| Operator | Hydro Quebec |
| Construction start | 1 Sep 1966 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 12 Nov 1970 |
| Grid connection | 5 Apr 1971 |
| Commercial operation | 1 May 1972 |
| Permanent shutdown | 1 Jun 1977 |
Gentilly nuclear power plant 2 Retired
| Reactor type | Pressurised heavy water reactor (PHWR) |
|---|---|
| Model | CANDU 6 |
| Size class | Large |
| Gross capacity | 675MW |
| Net capacity | 635MW |
| Thermal output | 2,156MWt |
| Enrichment | Natural uranium, 0.71% U-235no enrichment required |
| NSSS vendor | AtkinsRéalis (Candu Energy) |
| Owner | Hydro Quebec100% |
| Operator | Hydro Quebec |
| Construction start | 1 Apr 1974 |
|---|---|
| First criticality | 11 Sep 1982 |
| Grid connection | 4 Dec 1982 |
| Commercial operation | 1 Oct 1983 |
| Permanent shutdown | 28 Dec 2012 |
Gentilly nuclear power plant in context
The 2 units with both construction and grid dates on record took 4.6 to 8.7 years (median 6.6) from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 1980s is 7.3 years.
No other nuclear site with an exact position in this dataset lies within 300 km.
Build time by unit
| Unit | Construction start | Grid connection | Years | Fleet median, same decade |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 1 | 1966 | 1971 | 4.6 | 5.4 (1970s) |
| Unit 2 | 1974 | 1982 | 8.7 | 7.3 (1980s) |
How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.
| Location | Quebec, Canada |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 46.3953, -72.3579 |
| Elevation | about 10 mabove sea level |
| Setting | On the sea coast, 1 km from the water |
| Region | Northern America |
| Units by status | Retired: 2 |
Elevation is read at the listed coordinates from a 30 m terrain model (SRTM 30 m). Two independent models differ by a median of 6 m across our plants and by up to about 40 m on steep or coastal ground, and a point on a shoreline can read as sea level. Distance to the water is measured to a generalised 1:10 million coastline, so a few kilometres or less is not resolved. This is context, not a design-basis or flood-risk figure.
| Owners | Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Ltd Hydro Quebec |
|---|---|
| Operators | Hydro Quebec |
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Sources
- Global Nuclear Power Tracker, Global Energy Monitor, August 2026 release , CC BY 4.0 · retrieved 2026-09-06
- GEM.wiki entry (further reading) , CC BY-SA 4.0, linked, not quoted
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data