What a week we’ve had at NII. From reports and announcements to a new program launching, the team at the NII have been busy. If you aren’t following NII on social media, you should be (on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook). This is the best way to stay up to date with the good work the team continues to crank out.
1. Bruce Power and NII have announced a joint program to support Net Zero Partnerships. The Net Zero Partnership program will be led by my colleague Chad Richards (woohoo!) and will foster collaboration between the nuclear industry and governments, farmers, environmental groups and others, to work toward innovative processes which will reduce the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are driving climate change.
If you’re familiar with any work I have ever touched, you’ll know that I’m the person to shout from the living rooftop “Let’s do this together!”. Collaboration for the win, always.
Chad is going rock this program. He is brilliant, well connected, thoughtful and creative. I can’t wait to work with Chad on this program and leverage our efforts for greater success.
2. On a similar topic during Net Zero Week 2021, did you catch my colleague’s video titled “Take a Moment to Better Understand Net Zero”? It is a minute and a half and it makes me smile.
Phillip Craig, Director of the NII Explore program, can take a topic and deliver a short video that is clear, concise, accurate, and uses plain language. It is perfect! This is the type of video we can show our kids to help them understand what we’re working on. An early answer to the good old question of “Mommy, what’s your job?”.
Telling the story and helping people understand the facts will always be a big piece of every project.
When we start from a place of clarity, like Phillip’s video, and we help to educate and inform those around us, we are sparking curiosity, interest and most importantly a willingness to learn more.
I have worked with professionals who think of communication tools as icing on the cake, when in reality good communication is the platter which holds the cake. Without clear communication and meaningful public engagement, a project can (and most likely will) encounter barriers.
Misunderstanding with stakeholders tend to be a common challenge across multiple sectors, but can often be avoided with strategic communication and thoughtful engagement. Long story short, we need more Phillip Craig videos in the world.
3. Did you catch Bruce Power’s announcement on economic recovery? Spoiler alert: Bruce Power has committed to spending $3 billion dollars in Ontario over the next 18 months.
This commitment is connected to the Life-Extension Program, isotope development, and asset optimization strategy and “will enable Canada’s largest privately-funded clean energy project to secure carbon-free, reliable electricity for decades to come and a stable global supply of medical isotopes.”
Wonderful news for all of us and an important time to inject this incredible commitment into our provincial economy. The “Made in Ontario” approach will support the provincial economy leaps and bounds, and I’ll say it again in this post, this is the sort of news the Frontier program will shout from the living rooftop!
Good news and great work continue to come from the NII. I’ve said it countless times over the past few weeks, and *once more for those in the back* – I’m so incredibly grateful to be given the opportunity to work with this team. Over the next number of weeks, I’ll share more specifics on the work I’m diving into. It is super exciting, and it is going to have a real impact. There isn’t much better than that.
Jessica Linthorne is the Director of the Clean Energy Frontier program.