Supplier spotlight: Nuclear Promise X delivering sustainability through digital innovation
At a glance
- Ontario-based Nuclear Promise X (NPX) is helping OPG’s nuclear projects and operations become safer and more efficient through innovation and project management excellence.
- The fast-growing business is one of many diverse suppliers that make up OPG’s supply chain, supporting the company’s Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion goals.
- NPX is now looking to expand its support for OPG projects, including Small Modular Reactor development at Darlington.
When Bharath Nangia and three of his colleagues set out to start their company, Nuclear Promise X (NPX), their goal was to lead the nuclear industry towards a sustainable future.
In just five years since NPX’s formation, the fast-growing Ontario company now employs about 180 people and is fulfilling its promise to help the province’s nuclear operations, including OPG’s. NPX is achieving this by excelling in project management and by using innovative tools like digital transformation, design thinking, data analytics, and artificial intelligence (AI).
“As an industry, we believe nuclear power is critical to solving the climate crisis and supporting electrification,” said Nangia, NPX’s President and CEO. “But as an industry, we also tend to work in the same ways as we always have. When we founded NPX in 2018, our mission was to change the old ways of doing things through innovation to make the industry more sustainable, cost-efficient, faster, and even safer.”
Working with OPG and Bruce Power, NPX has successfully transitioned several paper-based processes and asset information into the digital space, a process called “digital transformation”. By converting old processes into apps and tools – for instance software that can be used to monitor equipment health or automate project management activities – NPX is helping to drastically modernize Ontario’s nuclear operations.
As a minority owned business, with offices in Whitby and Kincardine, NPX is just one of many important diverse suppliers supporting OPG’s objectives of providing reliable, low-cost, and clean power to Ontario’s homes and businesses.
When we founded NPX in 2018, our mission was to change the old ways of doing things through innovation to make the nuclear industry more sustainable, cost-efficient, faster, and even safer.Bharath NangiaPresident and CEO of NPX
In 2022, OPG awarded $18.6 million worth of contracts to equity-seeking suppliers, and for 2023, OPG has increased this target to $24 million for diverse suppliers. Separately, in support of the company’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), OPG added 15 new Indigenous suppliers into its supply chain in 2022 and achieved its target of awarding $56 million in contracts to Indigenous suppliers.
Building a sustainable, diverse supply chain with direct impact on economic empowerment for marginalized people is a major component of achieving OPG’s goals outlined in its Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) strategy and RAP.
For its part, NPX “has built ED&I into its core values,” said Nangia. The company is close to achieving a 50-50 gender balance across its young workforce, which has an average age of just 31 years. The team also actively engages with the communities in which they operate, through STEM and coding classes, environmental stewardship, and frequent volunteering and sponsorships.
“Companies like NPX are really helping us build our social licence to operate, as well as helping provide important support through innovative solutions,” said Paul Ross, Vice President of Supply Chain at OPG. “We are proud to support NPX, which themselves are prioritizing diversity and inclusion.”
With the rising profile of nuclear power to tackle the climate change challenge, NPX has had its work cut out for it in recent years.
The company is currently managing several capital projects at OPG’s Darlington Nuclear station, including for the Darlington Refurbishment project. NPX is also aiding the digital transformation of processes at OPG’s Nuclear Sustainability Services in Bruce County, which has included creating apps to help track packages containing nuclear byproducts to improve safety and efficiency.
At OPG’s Darlington New Nuclear Project, which aims to deploy North America’s first commercial Small Modular Reactor (SMR) within this decade, NPX is advising on digital strategies for the project.
Looking to the future, the company is poised to support OPG with project management and engineering services at Pickering Nuclear in addition to Darlington, and potentially also support OPG’s hydroelectric operations and developments in clean hydrogen, both of which will help drive decarbonization in the years ahead. NPX also plans to stay ahead of the innovation curve, for example by using AI to help nuclear projects and operations.
Looking at his quickly expanding company, Nangia credits OPG’s support and ongoing leadership in the nuclear space for helping NPX thrive.
“We wouldn’t have been able to grow to this scale as a company and get to where we are without OPG,” he said. “OPG is playing a leadership role on SMRs and new nuclear development globally. They didn’t have to be first. But by doing so, they are creating major opportunities for companies like ours, and the impacts are cascading throughout the industry.”
To contact NPX, reach out to info@npxinnovation.ca.
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