As we mark 10 years of Bruce Power as a company it’s important to look back at where we came from. The Bruce Power site has a long and proud history that goes back more than half a century.

In 1960, construction was started on the Douglas Point nuclear plant here. By 1967, it started generating electricity, and in September 1968 Atomic Energy Canada declared it in full commercial operation.

Douglas Point put Canada on the international stage as a leader in nuclear power development and operation. The Douglas Point plant operated for 16 years and was shut down May 5, 1984.

Construction of Bruce A, with four units, began in 1969. In 1977, Units 1 and 2 in Bruce A came on line and construction of Bruce B, also with four units started.

In 1978, Bruce A Unit 3 came on line and the following year Unit 4 came on line.

In 1983, construction began on the Bruce Learning Centre.

From 1984 through 1987 each year marked the start up of one of the Bruce B units.

In the mid 90’s, the units in Bruce A were laid up.

May 12, 2001 was the beginning of a new era. Bruce Power assumed operational control of the site under the leadership of Duncan Hawthorne who announced the restarting of Units 3 and 4.

In 2002, Bruce B Units 6 and 7 were declared the world’s top performing CANDU reactors.

August 14, 2003 was a hot summer day that many will remember. Electricity demand in Ontario rose to an all time high just above 28,000MW. A failure in a generating station in Ohio started a cascading collapse of power systems throughout the eastern seaboard. Ontario was plunged into a massive blackout. Bruce Power’s Units 5, 7 and 8 were able to step back and stay on line.

These three units were back on the grid in less than 24 hours and provided the base to begin restoring power to the whole province.

On October 7, 2003, Unit 4 was returned to service, followed by Unit 3 in January 2004.

In 2005, Duncan Hawthorne is named Canadian Energy Person of the Year.

In May, 2008, a protocol agreement is signed with the Ojibway Nation marking a significant cooperative effort with the aboriginal peoples of Grey Bruce who have long outstanding land claims in this area.

June 2008 marked 10 million hours without a lost time injury. The same month Bruce Power announced the Saskatchewan 2020 initiative as another possible new build location.

The year 2009 saw many milestones. Our Nuclear Response Team won first place in the World SWAT challenge gaining international fame among law enforcement agencies for excellence as well as their sportsmanship and goodwill. Negotiations with the Ontario Power Authority are successful and the provincial government confirms that our site will continue to supply 6,300MW of power to the grid for years to come.

In 2010, we achieved 22 million hours of work without a lost time injury.

Bruce Power employee contributions

Ten years have gone by fast and not only have we achieved a tremendous amount as a company, our impact on the area has also been significant.

Over those years, Bruce Power’s sponsorship program has contributed millions of dollars to assist activities and initiatives to support the development and well-being of citizens in our community and beyond. Our employees have raised thousands of dollars for international relief fundraisers for Haiti, Pakistan and Japan. The company has matched these funds to double our contributions.

Individual volunteer work with programs such as the Kinetic Knights Robotics Competition and Bruce Safe Communities have helped many people in the area.

Over the past ten years, hundreds of volunteers planted more than 7,500 trees along roads in the area to create a living snow fence program to help shelter some of our main roads during extreme winter conditions. As these trees mature they will help make our roads a little safer in the winter.