Jessica Barnes first got an inkling she wanted to work in nuclear power when she walked down a decommissioned reactor and spoke with control room operators during an internship while in university. After graduation, she got a job as a field operator at Bruce Power.
Nine years later, she’s the authorized nuclear operator (ANO) she dreamed of being, at the company’s Bruce B power plant on the shore of Lake Huron – and just as passionate about the work as when she started.
“It’s a privilege for me to go to work as a licensed operator every day,” Barnes says. “I take the responsibility I have to my co-workers, the plant and the community very seriously.”
Cathy Sprague, executive vice-president of human resources at Bruce Power, says that passion and engagement is shared among employees, and is why their turnover rate is “extremely low.” She says staff believe in the company’s work producing clean, emissions-free energy, and isotopes used for medical procedures. Bruce reactors produce Cobalt-60, the isotope that’s used to sterilize 40 per cent of the world’s medical devices and also to treat cancer. By 2022, the company expects to produce Lutetium-177, an isotope for treating prostate cancer.
“The environment is very important for people who come to work here,” Sprague says. “People feel they’re invested in what we do, and are very proud of the work they do.”
The company keeps young employees engaged with onthe-job training and mentorship opportunities, Sprague says. She calls them a “differentiator" for the company, because young staff know Bruce Power is committed to their education and success.
Barnes has experienced that first-hand. She initially got her foot in the door as a nuclear operator in training, and spent 18 months learning in the classroom and on the job to be a qualified field operator. She was then given the opportunity to go through a certification program to become an ANO, a three-year process that involved challenging simulator training. “Getting licensed was hard work, but it is incredibly rewarding,” she says.
Bruce Power partnered Barnes with a mentor, an ANO who offered moral support when she felt stressed about balancing her training with her work and home life and technical expertise on what she was learning. Her simulator instructor took on an informal mentorship role, offering her the ability to talk over simulator events and learn what she could’ve done differently.
Barnes says she feels grateful the company went above and beyond to support her through the process.
“One of the things I’m really proud of about in working for Bruce Power is how much of an investment they make and how well they train us,” she says.
Barnes says her relationships with her mentors have lasted well beyond her certification training, and she still turns to them for advice. She also continues to learn from her peers.
“I work with an incredibly talented group of people, and I love that everybody gets to contribute their own strengths to the team,” she says. “You have the opportunity to learn every day not only from the experience you gain but also from the highly skilled people around you.”
Sprague says the company’s mentorship programs are part of a recent focus on its younger employees. It’s something the CEO also made a priority, by meeting in groups or individually with young employees identified as rising stars and helping them network.
“We talk about giving opportunities to young people early in their career very regularly,” she says. “We’re always looking to make sure young talent has the ability to move through our business.”
