BWXT officially open for business in Port Elgin’s Southgate Plaza

BWXT President John MacQuarrie cut the ceremonial ribbon with a few helping hands from BWXT staffers, Bruce Power representatives, including President and CEO Mike Rencheck; and Saugeen Shores Mayor Mike Smith, January 26, at Port Elgin’s Southgate Plaza.

Hub Staff

Port Elgin’s Southgate Plaza’s newest tennant, Bruce Power supplier BWXT officially opened for business when BWXT President John MacQuarrie cut the ceremonial ribbon with a few helping hands from BWXT staffers, Bruce Power representatives including President and CEO Mike Rencheck, and Saugeen Shores Mayor Mike Smith January 26.

BWXT, formerly Babcock-Wilcox, is a nuclear energy focused company which has worked on the Bruce point site for decades and brings with it engineering and project type services from creating steam generation products, fuel used at plants across Canada, fuel waste containers, as well as inspection services, repair, and modification work.

“When you look at what we do in our business Bruce Power is a massive part of our business and it makes a big difference to us to be closer to Bruce Power. So being here and with the future that we hope to have at Bruce Power, being close makes a huge difference,” said BWXT President John MacQuarrie.

The new location houses six staffers, with MacQuarrie adding that more local employment could occur down the road.

“It depends on how fortunate we are in our business and whether we’re able to win certain work. But if we can we see some interesting opportunities in the tri-county areas,” he said, adding that the firm does a lot of work during outages and rather than travelling, having more staff stationed out of the Port Elgin location “or maybe even a bigger facility some day, that would be good for business.”

Bruce Power President and CEO Mike Rencheck said having BWXT located in Saugeen Shores “will help our teams integrate and work better” ahead of the Major Component Replacement set for 2020.

“The companies that are moving into the area are helping us with innovations to help us become more efficient and effective at running our reactors and at the same time moving in to perform various engineering work and projects associated with our refurbishment program,” added Rencheck.

Following the ribbon cutting MacQuarrie, on behalf of BWXT, presented a donation of $5,000 to the Saugeen Memorial Hospital Foundation’s annual needs. “We want to be supporting our communities,” said MacQuarrie. “We always want to be a part of the community and we want to support it with the fortune that we have,” he added.

Mayor Mike Smith welcomed BWXT President John MacQuarrie with a handshake and a gift on behalf of the Municipality.

Saugeen Memorial Hospital Foundation Executive Director Sally Kidson (left) and Board Chair Jim Barbour (right) happily accepted BWXT’s donation of $5,000 towards the hospital’s annual needs.