The Bruce site achieved 50 years of electricity generation this past weekend when production from Canada’s first commercial-sized nuclear plant, Douglas Point, is considered.

After six years of construction, Douglas Point’s turbine generator produced its first electricity on Jan. 7, 1967. After a long series of tests, fine-tuning and commissioning, the 200-megawatt plant was declared in commercial service on Sept. 26, 1968, according to a Bruce Power release.

Owned by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and operated by Ontario Hydro, Douglas Point remained in service until retirement on May 5, 1984. By then all four units at the Bruce A stations were operational with new units soon to come on line at Bruce B.

The technological advances at Douglas Point in the 1960s provided the province with a new and growing supply of clean electricity and also contributed to the success of the existing nuclear fleet at Bruce, Pickering and Darlington that now provides about 60 per cent of Ontario’s electricity.