Sargent and Lundy, CB&I open office in downtown Kincardine

Amid some fanfare and an official ribbon-cutting, Sargent and Lundy of Chicago, Illinois, and CB&I (Chicago Bridge and Iron) opened their office in downtown Kincardine, Wednesday evening.

Part of the supply chain for Bruce Power, the two companies are working together on the refurbishment project and were the first to open an office here, part of an economic development initiative among Bruce Power, Bruce County, and area municipalities.

Kevin Kelly of Bruce Power said it's great to kick-start that initiative by bringing this business to downtown Kincardine.

"This is exciting for us," said Kincardine mayor Anne Eadie. "Welcome to Sargent and Lundy and CB&I - you are the first to open an office here and we are thrilled that you chose Kincardine. Also, congratulations to Bruce Power and the County of Bruce on the success of this initiative. It is going to make a big difference to the local communities."

"It's great to be here and see the fruition of that economic development initiative we put in place last fall," said Mike Rencheck, president and chief executive officer of Bruce Power. "Thank you to Sargent and Lundy and CB&I for making the choice to become part of this community."

He said the Life-Extension Project at the Bruce Nuclear site is a lot of work. It began in January, 2016, and after the first year, it remains on-time and on-budget. The Major Component Replacement project is set to begin in 2020.

Delfo Bianchini, executive vice-president and director of nuclear power technologies with Sargent and Lundy, thanked everyone for the warm welcome.

"We've never been welcomed quite like this before," he said, with a laugh, "and never with flowers.

"The Bruce site holds a special place in our hearts, as we worked with Bruce Power on the refurbishment of Units 3 and 4, and the restart of Units 1 and 2. We look forward to this project and we'll do our best to help bring it in on-time and on-budget."

Bianchini was then joined by Eadie, Rencheck and Chip Ray of CB&I, in the official ribbon-cutting to open the office.