The Lucknow Sentinel, 2013-12-18, Page 15Wednesday, December 18, 2013 • Lucknow Sentinel 15
Bruce B refurb slated for 2016
Rob Gowan
QM! Agency
The next refurbishment at
Bruce Power is slated to
begin on Aug. 1, 2016.
Bruce Power president
and CEO Duncan Haw-
thorne said during a lunch-
eon at the Bruce Power on
Wednesday held to discuss
the Ontario government's
release of its long-term
energy plan, that the plan is
an important step in working
towards the restart.
"We really have to be ready
to start a refurbishment the
first of August 2016 and you
don't just blow a whistle at
the end of July and start that,"
Hawthorne said following
the luncheon attended by
Bruce Power employees and
other community members.
"There is a lot of preparatory
work ... so we need to move
quickly to do that"
In it's long-term energy
plan released on Monday,
the Ontario government
As you will
understand $15
billion is not a
small ask...
— Duncan Hawthorne,
Bruce Power president
and CEO
announced a renewed com-
mitment to nuclear power to
continue to provide more
than half of the province's
electricity supply. In its state-
ment the government plans
to meet that commitment
through refurbishments at
Bruce Power and Darlington.
Hawthorne said the cost
of the next round of refur-
bishments at Bruce Power is
expected to cost about $15
billion over 10 years and
employ about 3,500 workers
at its peak.
Hawthorne said the next
step for Bruce Power will be
to work with the Ontario
Power Authority to turn the
plan into a contract, some-
thing he hopes will occur
over the next year.
Bruce Power will also
have to secure the funds for
the work.
"As you will understand
$15 billion is not a small ask,
and the majority of investors
have pension liabilities to
meet so they want to be
absolutely certain that if I
say $15 (billion) it is not
going to be $30 (billion),"
said Hawthorne. "They are
going to take quite a bit of
convincing that we can do
what we said we would do
when we said we would for
the cost!'
Bruce Power took over the
nuclear site near Tiverton
more than 12 years ago
through a long-term lease
with the Ontario govern-
ment. When it took over the
site in 2001 there were only
four units operational, but
after refurbishment work
was completed, last year all
eight units were operating at
Bruce Power for the first
time in decades. But the
refurbishment of Bruce A
Units 1 and 2 cost close to $5
billion, more than $2 billion
over the original cost esti-
mate. The project also took
about two years longer than
predicted to complete.
Hawthorne said this time
around cost and time over-
runs will not be allowed to
happen.
"We can't do that again.
We won't be afforded a
chance to do that again,"
said Hawthorne. "These
were very expensive lessons
so, firstly, the plan will be a
lot more realistic this time.
Secondly, we are not doing
the two units right on top of
each other, which we did
last time, so the complexity
and magnitude of the
projects is not as difficult as
(Units) 1 and 2 were."
Hawthorne also said there
are not as many unknowns
this time around as Units 1
and 2 had been shut down
for 15 years each.
"There are a lot more rea-
sons to be optimistic," Haw-
thorne said.
An important part of con-
vincing investors that Bruce
Power is a smart place to put
their money is by showing
them the company is a suc-
cessful operation, Haw-
thorne added.
"We are doing pretty well
operation wise this year,"
said Hawthorne. "We need a
strong operating year next
year because that is really
when we will ask for the
cash. Next year is a big year
for us in terms of delivering
our business plan!'
Hawthorne said the plan is
to start with the refurbish-
ment of Bruce A Unit 4 in
2016. There are a total of six
units at Bruce Power that will
need to be refurbished.
Bob Delaney, parliamentary
assistant to Energy Minister
Bob Chiarelli also spoke at
Wednesday's luncheon and
said the government is look-
ing forward to having all
eight units at Bruce Power
completely refurbished.
"Nuclear power is
baseload generation and it
is the power that is always
on," said Delaney.
Delaney said the govern-
ment's plan has also been
revised since the last plan
was released three years
ago and pushed back the
need for the construction of
new nuclear units.
"To decide to go forward
with that now would mean
a commitment of $15 bil-
lion to build two nuclear
reactors whose output the
province would not need
when they come onstream,"
said Delaney. "The best
thing to do with that is to
maintain the option and
just push the option back in
time!'
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