The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission issued a statement regarding the 5.1 magnitude earthquake experienced near Ottawa today.

Read the release from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

TIVERTON, ON – May 9, 2013 – Bruce Power has launched a free iPad App to provide people in Ontario an interactive tool to better understand the cost of their energy bills and impact on Ontario’s air quality, along with a wealth of information on various topics through interactive features.

“We recognize the important role we play in Ontario’s supply mix to keep electricity costs low for our families and businesses while protecting the air we breathe,” said Duncan Hawthorne, President and Chief Executive Officer. “This App provides people the opportunity to understand their own electricity bill better, while considering their impact on air quality.”

The App also provides extensive information on the role Bruce Power plays in Ontario to provide a safe, reliable source of affordable electricity through videos, news feeds and interactive figures. As a community-minded company, the App also features Bruce Power’s extensive engagement efforts to improve the lives of people in communities it serves and also provides user tips on things we can all do to conserve electricity.

“Some people may think it’s strange that an energy company is launching an App but we recognize these forms of communications are highly popular and growing in demand and usage,” Hawthorne added. “We are a company that has always been focused on the future and this is the future of communications.”

The free App can be downloaded at www.brucepowerapp.com. Users who download the App before June 15 have the opportunity to enter a draw to win free electricity for a year.

Bruce Power has many avenues to keep connected to the community. We are active on Twitter (@Bruce_Power) and update our Community Blog regularly. Bruce Power also has a YouTube channel called BrucePower4You.

About Bruce Power

Bruce Power operates the world’s largest operating nuclear generating facility and is the source of roughly 25 per cent of Ontario’s electricity. The company’s site in Tiverton, Ontario is home to eight CANDU reactors, each one capable of generating enough low-cost, reliable, safe and clean electricity to meet the annual needs of a city the size of Hamilton. Formed in 2001, Bruce Power is an all-Canadian partnership among TransCanada, Cameco, Borealis Infrastructure Management (a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) as well as the Power Workers’ Union and Society of Energy Professionals. A majority of Bruce Power’s employees are also owners in the business.

For further information, please contact:

John Peevers – 519-361-6583 – john.peevers@brucepower.com

24-hour Duty Media Officer – 519-361-6161

 TIVERTON, ON – May 1, 2013 – An independent and objective survey of Canadian employees and job-seekers has deemed Bruce Power to be one of the country’s most attractive employers.

“Bruce Power is honoured and thrilled to be named by Randstad Canada as one of the Top 15 companies in Canada,” said Cathy Sprague, Executive Vice President, Human Resources, at the Randstad Awards ceremony in Toronto, on May 1. “To receive such recognition in an independent survey of regular Canadians speaks to the attractiveness of Bruce Power as an employer and active member of the community, while highlighting our importance to Ontario’s energy sector.”

Randstad Canada questions 7,000 Canadians between the ages 18 and 65, asking for their views on the country’s 150 largest companies. The companies, which are selected through national statistics agencies, cannot request or subscribe to be included in the survey, making it completely independent. The Top 20 were recognized at the May 1 awards night, with Bruce Power being named the 14th best of the 150 in the survey.

“At Bruce Power, we use innovation both in the field and the boardroom to be a world leader in nuclear operations,” Sprague said. “We supply about a third of Ontario’s power, provide high-paying, skill-testing jobs in one of the province’s most beautiful regions, and provide an incredible benefits package, which includes about 82 per cent of employees investing their own money in the future of our business.”

To learn more about the Randstad Awards, visit http://www.randstadaward.ca/ and for more on Bruce Power and how we’re helping Ontario phase out dirty, coal-fired electricity, visit www.nuclearupcoaldown.ca.  

About Bruce Power

Bruce Power operates the world’s largest operating nuclear generating facility and is the source of roughly 25 per cent of Ontario’s electricity. The company’s site in Tiverton, Ontario is home to eight CANDU reactors, each one capable of generating enough low-cost, reliable, safe and clean electricity to meet the annual needs of a city the size of Hamilton. Formed in 2001, Bruce Power is an all-Canadian partnership among TransCanada, Cameco, Borealis Infrastructure Management (a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) as well as the Power Workers’ Union and Society of Energy Professionals. A majority of Bruce Power’s employees are also owners in the business.

 For further information, please contact:

John Peevers                            519-361-6583                 john.peevers@brucepower.com

24-hour Duty Media Officer        519-361-6161

TIVERTON, ON – April 25, 2013 – The return of 3,000 megawatts of Bruce Power nuclear over the past decade has played a major role in improving Ontario’s air quality.

The Ministry of Environment released its 41st annual Air Quality Report this week, which shows levels of many air pollutants have dropped, resulting in better air quality. The report states the cleaner air is a result of many initiatives, including the phase out of coal-fired generation plants. Read the online report here.

With the revitalization of the Bruce site since 2001, Bruce Power has generated 70 per cent of the energy needed to shut down all of Ontario’s coal plants, said James Scongack, Bruce Power’s Vice President, Corporate Affairs.

“Bruce Power nuclear is a low-cost and clean source of reliable energy, and more Bruce Power nuclear means less electricity from coal,” Scongack said. “The revitalization of the Bruce Power site has contributed to the phase out of coal, along with a 93 per cent decrease sulphur emissions and a drop in summer smog days in the Greater Toronto Area from 48 to 12 since 2005.”

When coal-fired generation is phased-out by the end of the year, clean and low-cost electricity from Bruce Power’s eight-unit site will power one in three Ontario homes, schools, hospitals and businesses, Scongack added.

For more information on Bruce Power’s contribution to coal phase-out and cleaner air, visit www.nuclearupcoaldown.ca.

About Bruce Power

Bruce Power operates the world’s largest operating nuclear generating facility and is the source of roughly 25 per cent of Ontario’s electricity. The company’s site in Tiverton, Ontario is home to eight CANDU reactors, each one capable of generating enough low-cost, reliable, safe and clean electricity to meet the annual needs of a city the size of Hamilton. Formed in 2001, Bruce Power is an all-Canadian partnership among TransCanada, Cameco, Borealis Infrastructure Management (a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) as well as the Power Workers’ Union and Society of Energy Professionals. A majority of Bruce Power’s employees are also owners in the business.

For further information, please contact:

John Peevers – 519-361-6583 -  john.peevers@brucepower.com

24-hour Duty Media Officer – 519-361-6161

TIVERTON, ON – April 22, 2013 –Today, for the first time in about two decades, Bruce Power reached its full operating capacity when Unit 6 returned from its planned maintenance outage and all eight Bruce Power units were simultaneously sending clean, low-cost energy to the provincial electricity grid.

“Bruce Power has worked toward this day since we were formed in May 2001,” said Duncan Hawthorne, Bruce Power’s President and CEO. “Over the past decade we have invested $7 billion in private funds in the site – including first-of-a-kind refurbishment projects at Bruce A – and, with this monumental achievement, we are now positioned to provide 6,300 megawatts (MW) of low-cost electricity to the province.”

In the 1990s, all four units at the Bruce A facility were removed from service, resulting in the loss of 3,000 MW of clean electricity that generates practically zero carbon emissions. As a result, the use of fossil fuel-burning coal generation increased from 12 per cent of Ontario’s supply mix in 1995 to 29 per cent in 2000, negatively impacting the province’s air quality and health of Ontarians. In the last 10 years, with the return of Bruce Power Units 1-4 and the reliable performance of Units 5-8, coal use has dropped by 90 per cent and will be phased out entirely by the end of 2013.

“Bruce A’s resurgence has played a huge role in phasing out coal in Ontario and is a central plank to Ontario’s Long Term Energy Plan,” Hawthorne said, adding Bruce Power now supplies about a third of Ontario’s electricity. “Our children and grandchildren will thank us for having the courage to revitalize the Bruce Power site, allowing them to enjoy a life of breathing clean air.”

As a world-leading nuclear operator, Bruce Power will maintain its focus on hiring talented people and developing a workforce that will safely and reliably operate the eight-unit facility for decades, while always focusing on our core value of ‘Safety First,’ Hawthorne added.

About Bruce Power

Bruce Power operates the world’s largest operating nuclear generating facility and is the source of roughly 25 per cent of Ontario’s electricity. The company’s site in Tiverton, Ontario is home to eight CANDU reactors, each one capable of generating enough low-cost, reliable, safe and clean electricity to meet the annual needs of a city the size of Hamilton. Formed in 2001, Bruce Power is an all-Canadian partnership among TransCanada, Cameco, Borealis Infrastructure Management (a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) as well as the Power Workers’ Union and Society of Energy Professionals. A majority of Bruce Power’s employees are also owners in the business.

For further information, please contact:

John Peevers – 519-361-6583 – john.peevers@brucepower.com

24-hour Duty Media Officer – 519-361-6161

TIVERTON, ON – April 22, 2013 – Unit 6 was returned to service today after a planned maintenance outage that will allow the unit generate low-cost, clean and reliable energy for the people of Ontario.

The maintenance outage, which began Feb. 15, brought an end to an impressive 556 days of continuous operation for the unit, which finished 2012 as the world’s top-performing Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor.

About 500 contractors were brought in to work alongside Bruce B employees throughout the outage. Important maintenance was completed in the reactor vault and to electrical and safety systems, while Cobalt-60, used for the sterilization of equipment in Canada’s medical industry, was also safely harvested, said Pete Milojevic, Station Senior Vice President, Bruce B.

“I am proud of the employees at Bruce B for their dedication to completing the highly technical and innovative tasks required to bring this hard working unit back to service,” Milojevic said. “By properly investing in our equipment, we set the table for continued safe, reliable performance so the people of Ontario have continuous access to low-cost electricity at all times.”

Unit 6 supplies 825 megawatts to Ontario’s electricity grid, while Bruce B provides about 15 per cent of the province’s power annually. With a revitalized Bruce A, Bruce Power is responsible for 6,300 megawatts of clean, low-cost power – about 30 per cent of the province’s annual electricity usage.

About Bruce Power

Bruce Power operates the world’s largest operating nuclear generating facility and is the source of roughly 25 per cent of Ontario’s electricity. The company’s site in Tiverton, Ontario is home to eight CANDU reactors, each one capable of generating enough low-cost, reliable, safe and clean electricity to meet the annual needs of a city the size of Hamilton. Formed in 2001, Bruce Power is an all-Canadian partnership among TransCanada, Cameco, Borealis Infrastructure Management (a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) as well as the Power Workers’ Union and Society of Energy Professionals. A majority of Bruce Power’s employees are also owners in the business.

For further information, please contact:

John Peevers – 519-361-6583 – john.peevers@brucepower.com

24-hour Duty Media Officer – 519-361-6161

Bruce Power sent this letter in response to an article that appeared in the Toronto Star and Metro News on April 18.

Editor:
We would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight on an article that appeared in the Metro News on April 18 that inaccurately portrayed the cost of nuclear power.

While the report that was cited and commissioned by the Independent Electricity System Operator was accurate, the conclusions drawn by Metro News need to be corrected with further information from the report.

The article cites that nuclear energy contributed to 42 per cent of the global adjustment costs on electricity bills last year and suggests this makes nuclear generation costly to ratepayers– this is not the full story. While the global adjustment cost can be a complicated item to explain in relation to our energy system, this inaccurate conclusion related to nuclear can be easily explained.

Nuclear generation produced 56 per cent of Ontario’s electricity last year. Straightforward math would conclude if nuclear accounted for only 42 per cent of these global adjustment charges, but produced 56 per cent of the output, then the opposite is true – nuclear is a low-cost generator. The facts support this.

Nuclear power is the backbone of our electricity system and provides Ontario with a reliable source of affordable, clean power. One out of two homes, schools, businesses and hospitals  is powered by nuclear each and every day.

It’s also important to remind people that Ontario is in the final stages of phasing-out coal generation in the province and Bruce Power nuclear is a major contributor to this climate change initiative. With more electricity from Bruce Power nuclear over the last decade, coal generation has been down dramatically. For more information on this visit www.nuclearupcoaldown.ca.

James Scongack
Vice President, Corporate Affairs
Bruce Power

TIVERTON, ON – April 13, 2013 – Today, for the first time in two decades, all four units at Bruce A supplied clean, low-cost electricity to the people of Ontario, with the return to service of Unit 4.

Having all four units at Bruce A in operation is a significant achievement for the Bruce site, said Duncan Hawthorne, Bruce Power’s President and Chief Executive Officer.

“Through the return to service of Units 1 and 2 last year, combined with investment programs in both Units 3 and 4, we now have all Bruce A units generating low-cost electricity for the first time in two decades and for years to come,” Hawthorne said. “Electricity from Bruce A is important as Ontario moves forward to complete coal phase-out with affordable Bruce Power nuclear.”

Prior to its planned outage, Unit 4 had a record run of over 570 days of continuous operation.

“We are pleased with the strong performance of Units 1 and 2 since they returned to service and Unit 3 has also run safely and reliably following the West Shift Plus program last year,” said Len Clewett, Executive Vice President and Bruce Power’s Chief Nuclear Officer. “With Unit 4 back, Ontario can now count on all four Bruce A units to meet the province’s energy needs, while keeping costs low for our families and businesses.”

About Bruce Power

Bruce Power operates the world’s largest operating nuclear generating facility and is the source of roughly 25 per cent of Ontario’s electricity. The company’s site in Tiverton, Ontario is home to eight CANDU reactors, each one capable of generating enough low-cost, reliable, safe and clean electricity to meet the annual needs of a city the size of Hamilton. Formed in 2001, Bruce Power is an all-Canadian partnership among TransCanada, Cameco, Borealis Infrastructure Management (a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) as well as the Power Workers’ Union and Society of Energy Professionals. A majority of Bruce Power’s employees are also owners in the business.

For further information, please contact:

John Peevers – 519-361-6583 – john.peevers@brucepower.com

24-hour Duty Media Officer – 519-361-6161

TIVERTON, ON – April 5, 2013 – Bruce Power and the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) have reached an agreement to amend the Bruce Power Refurbishment Implementation Agreement (BPRIA) to ensure Ontario ratepayers will continue to be supplied with low-cost electricity from the Bruce B units to the end of the decade, prior to the full refurbishment of the units.

The amendment involves an extension of the floor price for the Bruce B units, which remains the lowest cost generator under contract by the OPA at 5.2 cents per kilowatt-hour. Bruce B provides 15 per cent of Ontario’s electricity demand on an annual basis.

Throughout 2013, Bruce Power will continue to invest in Bruce B with an estimated $250 million expected this year to continue to optimize the life of the units, ensuring both system reliability and price stability. Over the next five years, Bruce Power’s planned investment program in Bruce B will be approximately $1.1 billion. In addition to the base employment on the Bruce Power site, which is 4,000 people, this ongoing capital program will create approximately 500-600 temporary jobs annually in support of these investment activities.

This amendment does not change the price of the Bruce B floor nor does it impact the current arrangement in place for 3,000 megawatts of output from Bruce A. Bruce Power continues to assume all operational and investment risk related to the ongoing operation of Bruce B.

Bruce Power and the OPA will continue to work together to secure an important source of cost-effective and clean electricity for Ontario ratepayers through the long-term supply of 6,300 MW from the Bruce Power site.

Over the last 11 years, Bruce Power has invested $7 billion in the life extension and refurbishment of all eight units. This increased output from the Bruce Power site is a key component to keeping electricity costs low for our families and businesses and supporting the phase-out of coal by the end of 2013.

About Bruce Power

Bruce Power operates the world’s largest operating nuclear generating facility and is the source of roughly 25 per cent of Ontario’s electricity. The company’s site in Tiverton, Ontario is home to eight CANDU reactors, each one capable of generating enough low-cost, reliable, safe and clean electricity to meet the annual needs of a city the size of Hamilton. Formed in 2001, Bruce Power is an all-Canadian partnership among TransCanada, Cameco, Borealis Infrastructure Management (a division of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System) as well as the Power Workers’ Union and Society of Energy Professionals. A majority of Bruce Power’s employees are also owners in the business.

For further information, please contact:

John Peevers – 519-361-6583 -  john.peevers@brucepower.com

24-hour Duty Media Officer – 519-361-6161

Charles Mann, left, was the recipient of the Bruce Power Citizen of the Year award during the Kincardine and District Chamber of Commerce's annual awards gala, on Sat., March 23. Dwight Irwin, right, Communications Specialist at Bruce Power, presented Mr. Mann with the award.

Charles Mann is a fixture in Kincardine – a person whose impact will be felt for generations to come.

Mr. Mann, 90, was the recipient of the Bruce Power Citizen of the Year award during the Kincardine and District Chamber of Commerce’s annual awards gala, on Sat., March 23. The retired Bruce nuclear employee, who has a long history of decorated military service and community activism through politics and volunteering, was honoured to receive the award.

“This is the culmination of my life tonight,” Mr. Mann told the crowd, noting he’d be 91 in the coming weeks.

Dwight Irwin, Communications Specialist at Bruce Power, presented Mr. Mann with the award and outlined the many reasons why he was so deserving of the honour. This is his speech:

Bruce Power is once again proud to sponsor the Citizen of the Year Award.

Social responsibility is one of our key values as a company and this year’s recipient – Charles Mann – is one of the best examples of community leadership Kincardine has known in its 160-year history.

Mr. Mann is well known for his bravery while serving with the elite Devil’s Brigade during the Second World War, where he went behind enemy lines to help defeat the enemy in Italy. Over the years, Charles has stayed active with the veterans of the Brigade, which was a special service force made up of Canadians and Americans. Earlier this year, Mr. Mann and the Brigade were presented the Award of Excellence by Defence Minister Peter McKay and Veteran Affairs Minister Steven Blaney.

After the war, Mr. Mann entered the nuclear energy business, joining the Atomic Energy Control Board in 1946. He worked at Rolfton and Chalk River until 1960, before transferring to Kincardine to work at the Douglas Point facility on the Bruce nuclear site. Although the Town of Kincardine didn’t know it at the time, it was soon obvious the town had inherited a tireless volunteer and community champion, who continues to work for the betterment of the community over 50 years later

In the 1970s, Charles served nine years as a Kincardine town councillor, while volunteering on numerous committees at the same time. He then served as mayor of the town for 14 years between 1981 and 1997.

Still full of energy at age 90, Charles continues to be an active member the Kincardine branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, and he has represented Canadian veterans at memorial functions in Canada and Europe.

Mr. Mann has been a positive force in our community for over 50 years. He has played a major role in solidifying the foundation of the vibrant, strong community we all love today, and that’s why, on behalf of Bruce Power, I am honoured to present him with this year’s Citizen of the Year Award.

Chandra Tripathi, right, a Senior Technical Engineer Officer in Bruce Power's Environment Programs department, received the Nuclear Waste Management Organization's Award of Merit for community service during the Kincardine and District Chamber of Commerce's annual gala on Saturday, March 23. He received the award from Marie Wilson, of NWMO. Mr. Tripathi is extremely active in the community, promoting peace, diversity, love and the environment.