Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has received approval from the provincial government to begin building Canada’s inaugural small modular reactor, a nuclear facility that will be located next to the Darlington power plant an hour east of Toronto.
The first of four reactors, which are expected to come with a combined cost of nearly $21 billion, will be built in Bowmanville, Ont., says Energy Minister Stephen Lecce. The estimated construction cost of the first reactor is $7.7 billion, with work set to start this year and conclude by 2029, with connection to the grid in 2030.
“Ensuring that we have reliable, affordable energy is essential to the economic sovereignty of our province and country,” Lecce said during a recent press conference near the Darlington nuclear generating station. He noted that the Independent Electricity System Operator is estimating the province will need 75 percent more power by 2050.
“That’s the equivalent of adding four-and-a-half times the city of Toronto to the grid,” he added. “It’s a massive amount of power and … we just don’t have the supply to meet that demand. If we don’t take that strong, decisive action for our future, our economy, there could be really serious repercussions.”
The small modular reactor (SMR) is designed to generate 300 megawatts of electricity, which could supply approximately 300,000 households, Lecce said. Work has already begun to prepare the project site just east of the current nuclear plant along the shores of Lake Ontario.
This marks the first phase of OPG’s plan to address the sharp rise in electricity demand in Ontario. Once all four SMRs are built, they will produce enough electricity to power 1.2 million homes, the province said in a press release.
SMR Project
OPG is partnering with General Electric (GE) and Hitachi to build the SMR, known as the BWRX-300, design engineering senior manager Daniel Côté said in a video presentation of the project. Ontario will be the first region in the western world to construct the BWRX-300, a compact variant of GE Hitachi’s current boiling water reactor technology, the video said.
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Eighty percent of project spending will go to Ontario companies, Lecce said, adding that construction is expected to create 18,000 jobs while the continued operations of the facilities will provide an estimated 3,700 “highly-skilled, good-paying” jobs over the next 65 years.
The remaining 20 percent of project spending will be outside of Canada, with 15 percent going to European and Asian firms and 5 percent to U.S. companies, officials said.
The $20.9 billion price tag will not come at taxpayers’ expense, at least not directly. OPG has said it will fund the project through a mixture of existing cash reserves and incurring debt, with plans to recoup these costs over the project’s lifespan by billing ratepayers for electricity.
The province also plans to explore a new, large-scale plant at Bruce Power in Tiverton, Ont., consider a new nuclear plant near Port Hope, Ont., and refurbish units at the Pickering nuclear plant to extend its lifespan.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
