Bruce Power to decide fate of proposed Bruce C project by end of 2026

A clean energy conference focused on Bruce C construction, several new nuclear reactors, and the impact on community. Scott Miller explains.

On July 5, 2023, Bruce Power received the green light to start planning for the construction of four or five more nuclear reactors at their sprawling Bruce County compound.

Two years later, the dream is slowly taking shape.

“We really want to do a large new build, because that’s what makes sense for the site. But we really want to do it safely with high quality, low cost, and on time,” explained Bruce Power CEO and President, Eric Chassard.

At the Clean Energy Frontier Conference near the Bruce Power site on Wednesday, representatives from local municipalities and the national nuclear industry heard about the immense impact building brand new nuclear reactors might have on the region, province, and country.

“Our current operation, we’re talking 27,000 jobs across Ontario, 7000MW of reliable power. When you add Bruce C to that mix, those jobs double to over 50,000, at least during construction and base operations. Our GDP to Canada over the lifetime of the project, $200 billion, and increasing the site output to 12,000 MW. So, an incredibly exciting opportunity, and what we need to do is focus on turning that into reality,” explained James Scongack, Bruce Power’s chief operating officer and executive vice president.

The local impacts of building four or five more nuclear reactors at Bruce Power could see 2,600 new jobs supported in the region each year, along with the 4,200 full time Bruce Power employees already on site.

That doesn’t include up to 20,000 jobs supported and created during construction, according to an interim Ontario Chamber of Commerce study.

“Bruce C would be 21,000 direct and indirect jobs, and during operation a little more than 8,000 jobs. So, it’s kind of double what we’re doing already with, with the major component life extension,” said Chassard.

Bruce Power is in the middle a 13-year, $13 billion project to refurbish six of their eight reactors. Chassard says refurbishing units one and two, for the second time, is also being seriously discussed.

“It’s complementing if you want, units one to eight, and meeting the Ontario demand for electricity, that was highlighted in the Integrated Energy Plan, that we need to increase by 75 per cent our electricity production by 2050. So, Bruce C really fits into this plan, including unit one and two refurbishment is ready to meet the demand that has been highlighted in the Ontario plan for electricity,” said Chassard.

Before Bruce C could be approved, the Indigenous rights holders to the Bruce site, the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, would need to be on board. They aren’t yet, saying legacy nuclear issues, specifically around the storage and handling of nuclear waste, must be dealt with before they give their blessing to the proposed project.

“We want to have a partnership, more than an agreement…with the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, where they are really a part of the project, embracing it, and get direct benefit from the project. That’s what we want to invent for Bruce C,” said Chassard.

Everyone at Wednesday’s Clean Energy Conference is behind the project, recognizing it will bring challenges, such as around housing, but challenges they are more than happy to try and deal with.

“We have seen the advantages of having a nuclear power plant in our community for a number of years. We have seen the job creation. We’ve seen the quality of life. We’ve seen the ability to attract and retain young people. We’ve seen the joys of sort of living outside some of the economic realities in the world. We live in an economic environment that has proven itself sustainable over a long period of time,” said Kincardine Mayor, Ken Craig.

“It’s really a regional opportunity. We think about the three counties of Bruce, Grey and Huron, but I personally think about across the province. There’s a real opportunity here for the province of Ontario. The nuclear supply chain supporting Bruce Power, 95 per cent of their spend is domestic. So, this is jobs in manufacturing and opportunities that are created across the province of Ontario, and quite frankly, across Canada,” said Nuclear Innovation Institute President, Jessica Linthorne.

Chassard says Bruce Power spoke to the Federal Major Projects Office on Tuesday to get the construction of Bruce C on the shortlist of nation building projects being supported by the federal government.

Community open houses about the Bruce C project begin in November across the region. If it goes forward, it is believed it would be more than a decade before the Bruce C nuclear facility would be operational.