Women in Nuclear - WiN Canada

For the past 21 years, Sharon Therrien has held several positions at Ontario Power Generation (OPG)’s two nuclear power stations in Ontario. Currently she is employed at the Darlington power plant as a Project Technician Mechanical, a position that she began in October 2007.

She is responsible for quality assurance during Modifications, and construction of new building mechanical systems and additions. Sharon previously worked as a Mechanical Maintainer, and as a Maintenance Assessor doing Pressure Boundary verifications and working on verification of specific equipments’ Bill of Material.

There are two reasons behind Sharon’s varied career path: she thrives on new challenges and she enjoys learning about the different aspects of the nuclear industry.

When Sharon began with OPG more than two decades ago, she was one of the first female employees in a non-traditional trade at the Pickering power plant.  “There were a few female operators and control techs,” she says. “We almost felt like guinea pigs.”

Since then, things have changed, although the number of women working in trades for OPG is still low, she says. These low numbers were part of what inspired Sharon to become involved in Skills Canada where she can talk to young women about careers in the trades.

One of the Skills Canada networking dinners took place at Durham College—where Sharon attended from 1985 to 1987 and received the first Ontario Hydro Scholarship for Woman in a non-traditional trade. She is an excellent role model; she graduated from Mechanical Engineering Technician with the second highest marks in her class!
Sharon can also easily explain to the girls the need for continual on-the-job training. “There is always something new to learn”, she says.

Sharon joined WiN so she could help others understand the nuclear industry and to meet others that have similar interests and career paths. Being involved in WiN has contributed to her future goals by helping her to understand the “big picture.”

“I’d like to diversify myself a bit more and get to understand how the whole process works,” she says.

Sharon has also been able to combine her love of sports (she plays baseball, hockey and golf) with her WiN endeavours, by helping to organize the 2nd Annual WiN golf tournament.

Created on October 23, 2008.