The President and CEO of Bruce Power says yes, their re-fit of two reactors at the Tiverton site is over budget.
However Duncan Hawthorne tempers that with the fact that there is nothing new in that statement.
A story in today’s Toronto Star says the project is two-billion-dollar over budget.
Hawthorne says it’s no great secret the project is over-budget but he says the exposure of ratepayers is capped and will not be on the hook for any overages.
He says Bruce Power announced in July 2009 that the project was expected to cost about 4.5 billion dollars and they still stand by that figure.
Hawthorne says the project is about 80 per cent complete and he points out some of the more difficult parts of the project have been completed.
He says today’s story in the business section of the paper stems from an anonymous call after TransCanada Corporation — a partner in the project — was explaining to investors about cost overruns.
Hawthorne says despite that the TransCanada presentation went on to say that even with budget overruns, the Bruce A refurbishment is still a good investment.
Hawthorne says the essence of the story is contained in the photo that accompanies the copy.
He says the photo, which is two years old, shows the reactors in a state of total disassembly.
Hawthorne said the paper had every opportunity to take an up to date photo of the area that is completed and painted and ready to start.
He says he’s frustrated that the paper would choose not to convey accurate information on the current state of the project.
