Tony Tawil – Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada
In March, Tony Tawil earned the distinction of Fellow from the 117-year-old Engineering Institute of Canada. Tony joined Acres in 1964 as a geotechnical engineer and was head of the Geotechnical Department in Niagara Falls from 1979 to 1989. Following that, as Chief Geotechnical Engineer, he put his experience to work across Canada and the USA, and on many international assignments.

Tony served as President of the Canadian Dam Safety Association and its successor, the Canadian Dam Association, from 1996 to 1999. He contributed to the Canadian Dam Safety Guidelines and was the 2001 recipient of the Anderson Award for advancing safety of dams in Canada.

Work begins on Kajakai Hydro Plant and Kandahar Diesel Plant
Acres was awarded a contract by Louis Berger Group for work on hydroelectric and diesel power generating facilities near Kandahar in southeastern Afghanistan. Work on the USAID-funded assignment for Afghanistan's Ministry of Water, Power and Irrigation will continue through 2005. The project consists of three components: rehabilitation of two hydro units at the Kajakai plant, design and installation of a third unit, and rehabilitation of a diesel plant in Kandahar.

Acres begins three-year assignment with Hydro One
Acres is one of three consulting companies selected by Hydro One Networks to assist with its $1 billion capital expansion program over the next three years. The first assignment, a decommissioning plan for the Lakeview generating station switchyard, is now complete. Work has begun on the next task, expansion of the Cooksville substation facility. Future assignments will include the development of a Remote Terminal Unit training program and several substation design projects.

Hydro One Networks is Ontario’s largest electricity delivery company, with an integrated, 28,500-km transmission grid and interconnection system, one of the largest in North America.

Post-restart work at Bruce nuclear plant
Following the successful restart of Units 3 and 4 at the Bruce A plant, the Acres-Sargent & Lundy (ASL) joint venture has been awarded a number of follow-up assignments. The Maintenance Optimization Project will require an evaluation of over 30,000 components installed in Units 0, 3 and 4. Other assignments include engineering and construction support for the post-restart Seismic Upgrades at Units 3 and 4, and project engineering support for the Steam Generator Project. Bruce Power has also awarded ASL with contracts to install permanent platforms around each of the preheaters in Units 5, 7 and 8, as well as an engineering assignment to develop the seismic response spectra for the primary and secondary irradiated fuel bays.

Finlayson Dam Removal Paper wins top award
At the US Society for Dams 2004 Annual Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, Rick Donnelly of Acres received the first Outstanding Paper Presentation Award for his presentation titled "The Removal of Finlayson Dam." The paper was co-authored by Larry King of Acres and Mike Phillips of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. This year's theme, "Working Rivers – Balanced Resource Management," attracted more than 250 senior representatives of federal government agencies and other utilities.