Bruce Power marks milestone as new nuclear build gains momentum

Hundreds of Bruce Power employees gathered to hear the good news they’ve known since mid-September. One of the company’s nuclear reactors, Unit 6, is back producing electricity for the first time in three years.

“Unit 6 is online, and on time. It’s supplying power right now to the citizens of Ontario,” said Bruce Power President and CEO Mike Rencheck.

Following the three-year long, and roughly $2.5 billion project to essentially replace all the parts of the nuclear reactor and extend its operational life until 2064, Unit 6 synchronized with Ontario’s grid on September 14, providing power to 900,000 Ontario households.

However, Bruce Power has a lot more work to do. They plan to do the same renovations to five more of their eight reactors over the next decade at a cost of more than $13 billion.

“We have to deliver the next unit 20 per cent cheaper and 15 per cent faster, and the next one 20 per cent cheaper and 15 per cent faster than that one. But that’s what keeps us motivated,” said Eric Chassard, who is in charge of Bruce Power’s 13 year, $13 billion reactor refurbishment project, speaking about the contract Bruce Power has with the Independent Electricity System Operator to control costs and timelines for Bruce Power’s massive project.

An undated image of Bruce Power workers completing refurbishment work on a nuclear reactor at the Bruce Power site near Kincardine. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

While Bruce Power ramps up their reactor rejuvenations, talk of building four or five more reactors along the shores of Lake Huron is gaining momentum as Ontario looks to nuclear energy to keep the lights on for decades to come.

Rencheck said expressions of interest for what kind of nuclear reactors to build to add 4800 MW of power to the Bruce site went out to market Tuesday.

“It would make a huge difference to the people of Ontario. That’s 4.8 million homes that could be powered. All the new businesses that are electrifying. Electric furnaces that could fire our steel making processes. All of those things will become a reality if we can see something like this happen at Bruce,” said Ontario’s Energy Minister Todd Smith, who was attending Tuesday’s Unit 6 celebration on the Bruce Power site.

Ontario’s Energy Minister Todd Smith spoke to Bruce Power employees on Oct. 17, 2023, as the company celebrated the restarting of a nuclear reactor, Unit 6, following a three-year long refurbishment project. Unit 6 provides enough power for 900,000 Ontario homes. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

“It’s not a hope. It’s going to happen. We’re all concerned about climate change and so on. Nuclear has to be a solution,” said Chassard, Bruce Power’s Executive Vice President of Projects and Field Services.

“With a new facility here you could envision being here through [the year] 2100. So, this is a century building economic development opportunity that we have in front of us,” said Rencheck

Bruce Power employs more than 4,000 people, while producing 30 per cent of Ontario’s electricity.