Bruce Power’s Mike Rencheck joins ground-breaking Road Maps to New Nuclear event in France

Bruce Power president and chief executive officer (CEO) Mike Rencheck (above, centre) joined industry leaders and government officials this week in Paris, France, in a ground-breaking event to discuss nuclear’s role in leading a clean energy future.

The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) Road Maps to New Nuclear event runs Sept. 28-29 with discussions based around how to at least double, and potentially triple, installed nuclear capacity worldwide to meet net-zero targets. This is the first time that senior officials and industry executives from NEA countries, considering the construction of new nuclear power plants, have gathered, seeking to create the conditions for success to rebuild leadership in nuclear new builds.

Road Maps to New Nuclear brought together senior officials and industry executives to pinpoint decisions to deliver new nuclear construction at the scale and pace required to meet climate goals in light of years of inactivity, evolving policy and industrial and regulatory needs.

The invite-only event is a primer for the COP28 event to be held Nov. 28 to Dec. 12 in Dubai. The outcomes of this conference will inform the development of actionable policy recommendations for policymakers, nuclear utilities and the industry more broadly.

“For the first time, more than 20 Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) NEA countries have convened in Paris, a few weeks before COP28, to send a strong message: Nuclear power is essential to achieve carbon neutrality and fight against global warming, and many countries are ready to commit to it, like France, which is reviving its sector with vigour,” said Agnès Pannier-Runacher, French minister for energy transition.

Rencheck was joined in France by CAMECO CEO Tim Gitzel, CNA CEO John Gorman, and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) CEO Ken Hartwick. Bruce Power and OPG will discuss Ontario’s approach to new nuclear as laid out in the province’s Powering Ontario’s Growth plan, as well as the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) Pathways to Decarbonization report.

“Ontario already has one of the cleanest electricity systems in the world and our government has committed to nuclear as a key contributor to achieving its net-zero goals,” said Rencheck. “There are many aspects to advance, both in the private and public sector and at the government level to make these projects a reality.

“The Road Maps to New Nuclear event is an opportunity for government and industry leaders to advance international collaboration, foster strategic partnerships, share best practices and learn from each other to help shape the clean energy future that nuclear can provide.”

NEA director-general William D. Magwood said that reducing global carbon emissions to achieve net-zero by 2050 is “one of the greatest challenges and opportunities of our time.”

“NEA analysis shows that advanced nuclear energy, alongside renewables and emerging technologies, provides a realistic and practical path to meet this goal while maintaining energy security and fostering economic expansion.”