SPECIAL REPORT | SNC-LAVALIN
From CANDU vision to SMR mission
SNC-Lavalin’s Candu Energy sets course to meet the global triple threat of accessible, secure, net-zero energy, in part, by channeling its CANDU know-how into SMR development, Jacquie Hoornweg reports
EARLIER THIS YEAR I VENTURED to SNC-Lavalin’s Candu Energy headquarters, in Sheridan Park, Mississauga, Ontario. It’s where the CANDU Reactor division of Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. was once based, prior to its divestiture in a sale to SNC-Lavalin, announced in June 2011. My purpose was a sit-down with Sandy Taylor, who, it
Jacquie Hoornweg
Executive Director, Brilliant Energy Institute and Canadian Global Affairs Institute Fellow
was announced shortly after our visit, was retiring from his eight-year reign as SNC-Lavalin’s Nuclear Sector president after preparing his successor, Houston-based Joe St. Julian. Taylor was a logical choice to shepherd the fledgling division into SNC-Lavalin a few years into the AECL buyout. Having spent five years at AECL early in his career, Taylor came with the shorthand on the history and culture of the CANDU industry. Much of the Canadian work of the past 10 years has
centred around the company’s major contribution to the project work for the Darlington Nuclear refurbishment and the Bruce Power major component replacements. Together, the mid-life mega-projects for Ontario’s CANDU fleet, will allow some of the units to continue to operate into the 2060s. Given the reputation of large, complex projects, these have flown under the radar exceedingly well, popping up mostly for milestone celebrations. It is a testament to the work done by the utilities, but also by SNC-Lavalin, their refurbishment EPC joint-venture partner Aecon, and the Canadian nuclear supply community. Canada’s nuclear supply chain re-emerged and gained momentum over the past decade, thanks to predictable and ample refurbishment work. It was also helped by a concerted effort to build industry knowledge and training on safety, quality standards and secure procurement throughout all tiers of the supply chain.
For much of the Canadian nuclear industry, the CANDU
brand brings at least as much national pride as Tim Horton’s coffee, good beer and maple syrup. It was the Avro Arrow that got its chance and made Canada a Tier-1 nation. So, the sale of AECL’s reactor division sale to SNC-Lavalin, or any privatization, was bound to create controversy. AECL and SNC-Lavalin did have some commonalities to build on, starting with their Canadian roots. SNC was started in 1911 by a former Canadian public works executive who quickly grew it into one of Montreal’s leading engineering service providers for power projects. It continued to grow, eventually merging with Canadian engineering giant Lavalin in 1991. The partnership, under the new name, SNC-Lavalin, made it the country’s largest engineering and construction company and one of the largest engineering and construction firms, globally. Back at Sheridan Park and like the engineer he is, Taylor
started with the problem statement: the need to get to net zero while also double-to-tripling electricity supply to meet growing demand. We met in the early days of the Ukraine- Russia conflict before the full effects on energy security were fully apparent, yet the necessity for countries to achieve energy self-sufficiency, even then, were clear. “I think we’re in a really pivotal period,” Taylor reflected.
“We all now realise the urgency in decarbonising our environment, our society. If we don’t do something proactively, the cost of being reactive will likely dwarf the cost of being proactive,” he says. As a global fully-integrated professional services and
project management company, Taylor says, SNC-Lavalin sees its mission as “engineering a better future for the planet and its people,” in all facets of its business. “I think we
Above: SNC-Lavalin’s Candu Energy headquarters is in Sheridan Park, in Mississauga, Ontario 16 | July 2022 |
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