AtkinsRéalis expands Candu Energy leadership team
March 26, 2025
By Peter Saunders
Left to right: Alexander (Sandy) Taylor, Dietmar Reiner and Gary Rose. LinkedIn photos.
Candu Energy, part of consulting engineering firm AtkinsRéalis, has expanded its senior leadership team to address project delivery challenges.
AtkinsRéalis reports its global nuclear sector backlog and workload increased to record levels in 2024. Candu Energy hired 750 new employees that year and is currently aiming to build at least 50 new Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactors, in addition to 19 reactor life extension projects.
First, Alexander (Sandy) Taylor returns to AtkinsRéalis as president and CEO of Candu Energy. He was previously responsible for the business from 2014 to 2022, serving as power group and nuclear president, and since then has remained active as a special advisor. In his new capacity, he is responsible for all Candu Energy activities and ensuring safe, high-quality work is delivered on time and on budget.
Next, Dietmar Reiner, P.Eng., joins as senior vice-president (SVP) for Canada. He spent the bulk of his career at Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and most recently sat on its small modular reactor (SMR) review board. In his new role, he will oversee Candu Energy’s Canadian nuclear projects, including the Darlington and Pickering life extensions in Ontario, Darlington’s grid-scale SMR and the Monark reactor development program.
Finally, Gary Rose shifts gears from AtkinsRéalis’ nuclear executive vice-president (EVP) to a newly created role as Candu’s international EVP. Accordingly, he will oversee all international CANDU reactor projects, including those in Romania, China, South Korea and Argentina.
“These additions to our leadership team will enable us to scale up faster, ensure appropriate executive oversight on all our projects and position us for future opportunities,” says Joe St. Julian, AtkinsRéalis’ nuclear president. “ I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Dietmar, a ‘welcome back’ to Sandy and continued success to Gary in his new role.”