You’ve got mail: Any day now, 39,000 households in the Bruce area will get Canada Post’s delivery of the 2022 edition of Neighbours, a four-page newsletter for people living near Ontario Power Generation (OPG) facilities at the Bruce nuclear site. It’s part of OPG’s commitment to keep people informed about our activities, in the communities where we operate. Stories include: OPG’s Nuclear Sustainability Services and its mission to embrace the three Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), ground-breaking for a new sorting and recycling facility in Kincardine, and OPG’s ongoing support for local community initiatives. For a sneak preview, you can also download the PDF from OPG’s website at www.opg.com/southwestern (scroll halfway down the page to the Neighbours item).
See you at CNA: I look forward to reconnecting with others from across the nuclear sector and its host communities, including Kincardine – in Ottawa this April 12-14 at the Canadian Nuclear Association 2022 annual conference, themed “Together for Net Zero.” Be sure to visit OPG’s booth in the main conference-level corridor at the Westin Hotel – as well as OPG’s commercial subsidiary, Laurentis Energy Partners, which has a booth in the Trade Show. If you’re there, I’m confident you’ll spot me despite my mask, which I plan to wear even as the pandemic enters its third year. Nuclear professionals know how to prioritize safety, balanced with useful collaboration across our industry. CNA has designed an exciting program, focused on new nuclear technologies, action on climate change, and advancing reconciliation through Indigenous partnerships.
Around Ontario and beyond:
- Hydrogen pilot: As part of Ontario’s first-ever Low-Carbon Hydrogen Strategy, the government is supporting a proposal from Atura Power, an OPG subsidiary, to build, own and operate the province’s largest low-carbon hydrogen production facility, in Niagara Falls. This project alone would expand the province’s hydrogen production capacity eight-fold. Hydrogen is a versatile fuel for vehicles, industrial processes and heating homes and businesses while emitting little to no greenhouse gases. Atura Power’s pilot project is expected to support net emission reductions equivalent to taking more than 4,000 cars off the road.
- Progress on SMRs: OPG is positioning to be a world leader in new nuclear development, as the company works toward building Canada’s first grid-scale Small Modular Reactor (SMR). Site preparation has begun at the Darlington New Nuclear Project, which aims to deploy a 300-megawatt SMR by the end of the decade. Once built, it could power about 300,000 homes, create about 2,500 jobs over its 60-year lifespan, increase GDP by $2.5 billion, and become a vital tool in Ontario’s fight against climate change.
- Birds and bees: Congratulations to OPG’s Niagara Operations, which once again received Gold certification from the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC). The three-year designation recognizes the outstanding environmental and biodiversity work at OPG’s Niagara sites, including nesting boxes for migratory birds, habitats for pollinating honey bees, and a partnership with Niagara College to improve turtle nesting sites. Similarly, OPG’s Western facility at the Bruce nuclear site received its first WHC Gold certification in 2021.