Bruce Power awards key contract for MCR Project

Bruce Power has signed a key contract for the Major Component Replacement (MCR) Project, with the Shoreline Power Group Consortium which will be responsible for successfully executing the heart of the company’s multi-year Life-Extension Program. Begun in 2016, the program remains on-time and on-budget.

Starting immediately, the Shoreline Power Group – a consortium of Aecon, AECOM and SNC-Lavalin – will begin to mobilize for the heart of the MCR Project known as the reactor retube, which will commence with Unit 6 in January, 2020.

Through demonstrated success, the contract has the potential to expand to reactor retubes on Units 3,4,5,7 and 8 as well. This will create and sustain an average of 825 jobs annually – with a peak of 1,500 – directly and indirectly, over the next 15 years in Bruce, Grey, and Huron counties, and throughout Ontario.

“As Canada’s largest public-private partnership, Bruce Power will continue to meet all investment requirements related to this multi-year program, and, through continued strong and efficient performance, will provide low-cost power to the province through 2064,” said Mike Rencheck, Bruce Power’s president and chief executive officer.

“We are making this key contract award today with the confidence that the members of the Shoreline Power Group have demonstrated the experience, commitment and dedication to safety, quality, productivity and innovation, to enable us to keep our Life-Extension Program on-time and on-budget.”

John M. Beck, president and chief executive officer of Aecon Group Inc., said the Shoreline Power Group Consortium recognizes the first-rate expertise the companies have in the nuclear industry and that the success of these projects are ultimately about generating low-cost, stable and reliable power for families and businesses.

“The Shoreline Power Group looks forward to leveraging its extensive experience and lessons learned from delivering nuclear refurbishment projects across the province, to execute this work with the highest level of safety and quality, while recognizing the need for ongoing innovation and building efficiencies as we move through this multi-year program,” said Beck.

Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson said families and businesses across Ontario need low-cost, stable and reliable sources of electricity, such as nuclear.

“I’m thrilled that a company based in Huron-Bruce is leading the way on this front as a public-private partnership that is delivering results,” she said. “The Ontario PC (Progressive Conservative) Party remains firmly committed to the Bruce Power refurbishment program. With this multi-year contract in place and private-sector funding to drive this program, I believe the best thing we can do is support them in terms of good policy, but when it comes to the day-to-day operations, stay out of their way and let them do what they do best – generate low-cost power.”

For this historic announcement, the company was pleased to welcome as guest speaker, former Ontario premier Mike Harris, who served from 1995 to 2002. Under his administration, Bruce Power was formed in 2001 as a public-private partnership, with the goal to revitalize the facility and position it for long-term sustainability and success.

“It wasn’t that long ago that the Bruce site was a facility with only half of its units operating, and an end of life in 2018,” said Harris. “In fact, without the transformation Bruce Power has undertaken since 2001, we would be standing today at a facility with all of its units shut down.

“I’m pleased that, through the public-private partnership between the province and Bruce Power, we have a very different future today. All eight units are generating low-cost power for families and businesses, and this private-sector investment program will allow the company to do this for many decades to come. Bruce Power is a true Ontario success story.”

Mark Romoff, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Council of Public-Private Partnerships, said the announcement between Bruce Power and the Shoreline Power Group is a great example of the public-private partnership model at work.

“Using private investment dollars, thousands of highly-skilled jobs are being created while ensuring a supply of low-cost electricity for the people of Ontario for decades,” he said.

The Shoreline Power Group contract is worth $475-million for Unit 6, and will be funded totally by Bruce Power. It will continue on successive units based on safety, quality, cost and overall performance.



The Shoreline Power Group, a consortium of Aecon, AECOM and SNC-Lavalin, signs an historic MCR Project contract with Bruce Power, to replace the fuel channels and feeders during the Unit 6 Life-Extension Program; marking the announcement, are Huron-Bruce MPP Lisa Thompson (left), Art Lembo of AECOM, Sandy Taylor of SNC-Lavalin, Mike Rencheck of Bruce Power, John Beck of Aecon, former Ontario premier Mike Harris, and Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker; photo courtesy of Bruce Power