CALGARY - TransCanada Corp. (TSX:TRP) says work on the Bruce Power nuclear plant in Ontario is about three-quarters complete, but that construction is expected to wrap up several months behind schedule.

The refurbishment and restart of Bruce A Units 1 and 2 was to have been completed in late 2010. Now, Unit 2 is expected to be ready in mid-2011 and Unit 1 is slated to start back up about four months later.

"The Units 1 and 2 project is approximately 75 per cent complete, with the bulk of the highly technical, high-risk work now completed," TransCanada chief executive officer Hal Kvisle told analysts on a conference call Wednesday to discuss his firm's third-quarter results.

"Although we face a delay on the Bruce restart project, all of our other capital projects continue to progress as expected during the quarter - on time and on budget."

Bruce Power, on the shores of Lake Huron about 250 kilometres northwest of Toronto, is a partnership between TransCanada, uranium miner Cameco Corp. (TSX:CCO) and others.

The site consists of two generating stations, each of which hold four CANDU nuclear reactors.

Calgary-based TransCanada, known mainly as a major shipper of natural gas, said any impact from the delay at Bruce A Units 1 and 2 can be offset by measures being taken to extend the lifespan of the two other reactors at that generating station.

"The good news is we have already started that course of work, or have done a significant portion of it in prior outages, which has given Bruce management the comfort that we should be able to get significantly extended life out of the units," said Alex Pourbaix, president of TransCanada's energy business.

As of Sept. 30, TransCanada had spent $3.1-billion on the Bruce revamp.

"Accordingly, we now see total project costs exceeding $4 billion, above recent estimates from Bruce Power which estimate a total cost of $3.4 billion," said UBS Investment Research analyst Chad Friess in a note to clients.

Earlier Wednesday, TransCanada reported a 22 per cent decline in comparable Q3 earnings to $335 million, or 49 cents per share, which was mainly due to lower power prices and volumes sold by Western Power and lower volumes from New England and Bruce Power.

The earnings were in line with analyst estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters.

Net income fell by 25 per cent to $345 million or 50 cents per share in the third quarter, down from $390 million or 67 cents in the same period of 2008.

Meanwhile, TransCanada's revenue rose by five per cent to $2.25 billion from $2.14 billion. That beat a consensus estimate of $2.175 billion based on three analysts tracked by Thomson Reuters

During the third quarter, TransCanada took full control of the Keystone crude oil pipeline project by buying out ConocoPhillips' minority stake for US$553 million plus US$197 million in debt.

The project's first phase is now 90 per cent complete, and the line is expected to be filled with crude later this year. Deliveries of Alberta oil to markets in the U.S. Midwest are slated to begin in early 2010.

Once completed, the $12-billion Keystone pipeline will be one of the largest oil delivery systems in North America with the capacity to deliver 1.1 million barrels per day from Western Canada to the largest refining markets in the United States.

TransCanada is looking for U.S. and Canadian regulatory approval for Keystone's second phase, which would extend the line to the U.S. Gulf Coast and expand its capacity by 500,000 barrels per day by 2012.

TransCanada shares were off 14 cents to $32.73 in late afternoon trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange Wednesday.