More than 17,000 people join Hawthorne in Telephone Town Hall

More than 17,000 people in Bruce, Grey and Huron counties listened in as Bruce Power president and chief executive officer Duncan Hawthorne addressed questions on a variety of topics, during the second annual Telephone Town Hall, Tuesday night.

The open forum featured about 20 questions, ranging from the refurbishment of Units 3-8 at the Bruce Nuclear site and Ontario's energy supply mix, to the high cost of electricity and Ontario Power Generation (OPG)'s proposed Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) for low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste at the Bruce site.
While Hawthorne spoke passionately about the accomplishments of Bruce Power in 2014 and the company's future endeavours, he also graciously responded to questions that have nothing to do with Bruce Power, such as the DGR project and people's high electricity bills.
 

When asked about the cradle-to-grave cost for nuclear energy, Hawthorne said that nuclear energy costs $2,000-$2,200 per installed kilowatt. For comparison purposes, the cost for new nuclear build is $100/megawatt, while the cost for wind energy is $130/megawatt.
He stressed that Bruce Power receives no government subsidies for the generation of nuclear energy, but it needs market continuity in order to justify investing billions of dollars into refurbishing the Bruce Nuclear reactors.
"We have $7-billion invested now at the Bruce site," he said. "The next phase of refurbishment will see another $20-billion invested. We get no subsidy to do that, but the negotiations we're having now (with the Ontario Power Authority) in Toronto are about the price for that power. That price will be 30-per-cent cheaper than the next best price for power."


Hawthorne said that 2014 was an important year because it was the first full year when all eight reactors were operating at the Bruce Nuclear site, and as a result, the site had a record output for that year.
He said the marketplace has changed, with the elimination of coal plants and the introduction of flexible generation.

During further questions, Hawthorne was asked why the company is not hiring locally when there are fully-qualified people here.
Hawthorne said Bruce Power does hire locally. "We recruit about 300 people per year and at least 50-60 per cent of those are from this area. Sometimes the skills we need are not available here, but it's important that we hire and buy locally."

When asked about the importing of power from Quebec because it's inexpensive compared to nuclear energy, Hawthorne pointed out that in the winter, Quebec actually buys power from Ontario; and then sells its surplus energy in the summer to Ontario and the United States. "The premier of Ontario has identified a power savings by selling power to Quebec in winter and then buying power back in the summer."

A listener asked about the number of planned outages slated for 2015.
"This is a big outage year," said Hawthorne. "We will have 320 days of maintenance outages because one is for the vacuum building when all four Bruce B reactors will be down. That happens every 10-12 years."
He said Unit 1 will be down for a 30-day outage, and then Bruce B, followed by Bruce A in the fall.

Also slated for this year are the five-year operating licensing hearings for the Bruce site, with one in Ottawa and one in Kincardine. Hawthorne said that once the price for power is negotiated, Bruce Power can ensure its long-term energy commitment to this site until 2064.

As the virtual town hall wrapped up, Hawthorne thanked everyone who took the time to participate in the event. “I enjoy speaking with members of the community, hearing their questions and, hopefully, providing some insight along the way.”

He noted that this venue is the best way to reach thousands of area residents and engage them in conversation. “We live in a community that strongly supports Bruce Power, but we will never pass up an opportunity to further educate our population on the benefits of nuclear electricity production.”
 

During the town hall, three polling questions were provided to listeners. The results are:

• 92% of listeners agreed or were undecided that Bruce Power communicates effectively with its surrounding communities
• 96% agreed or were undecided that Bruce Power operates its facilities safely
• 95% agreed or were undecided that Bruce Power takes utmost care for the environment as it operates safely

The Telephone Town Hall is now available on the Bruce Power YouTube page. It can be heard at http://youtu.be/0FmzgPe41mQ?list=PLqSJ7zA2bUGT2llFV_MWrkNTcI9V18ylj (or more easily through the Bruce Power channel at www.youtube.com/brucepower4you