How long can N.L.’s Churchill Falls power plant operate with staff off-site?

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The Churchill Falls plant was never designed to continue operating with no one on site how long can that happen so you know to say it can happen for 24 hours or two years you know we’re checking it now right we’re really kind of testing that um as I said yesterday is we expect that as long as there’s no significant fluctuations or major system disturbances we can continue for quite some time um plus we do think there could be Windows where you could probably get into some parts of the the whole system which would be UpCountry structures that kind of thing um that would allow you to maybe make some of those further modifications so you know um I don’t want this to go on for a year or two years um because I think you want to be able not I think you want to be able to get in and do routine maintenance to keep the plant in long-term good condition um but yeah I’m not concerned of this going on for a number of weeks it’s not ideal but uh we’re okay I think to do that and as we talked about yesterday the remote operations center is uh although it’s rudimentary it it does it does allow for some operations of the plant albeit greatly diminished um and I think that that’ll be a kind of lesson moving forward and a takeaway but um kudos to the to the the women and men who set that up and are operating it currently I saw it live you could he was increasing and decreasing loads uh from from Happy Valley goosebay to the plant a couple hundred kilometers away that I was just going to just add a little bit and it might be stating some of the obvious and I’ve been recounting this to some of the folks who are asking me you know sort of how are things going and there’s you know 50 to 100 people who when their eyes open in the morning to when their eyes close at night and I’m talking midnight that this is all they’re doing and they’re they’re chasing equipment um they are coming up with brand new solutions that have never been tested before there’s another hundred that are 75% of their day is is absolutely in support of this um so any that is possible with regards to supporting the employees and the evacuated um family members um is there’s a lot of folks that are supporting that um keeping the plant going um as is there’s a lot of folks that are indeed supporting that alternative Solutions there’s a lot of folks that are supporting that like there is no expense spared no stone unturned um and you know a lot of lessons learned and I think we learned you we’ve had fires before so we we have some experience you know with this you know Central there a couple years ago beta Spar um exploits there’s a lot of effort going into this

N.L. Premier Andrew Furey says a ‘rudimentary’ remote setup ‘does allow’ for some operations of the Churchill Falls power plant, with staff forced off-site by a wildfire.

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