Ontario looks to build first full-scale nuclear power plant in decades - The Globe and Mail

Ontario looks to build first full-scale nuclear power plant in decades - The Globe and Mail
Open this photo in gallery: The Bruce Power nuclear station near Lake HuronALLISON KENNEDY

Ontario could be getting its first new, full-scale nuclear plant in three decades, the province’s Energy Minister said Wednesday, unveiling plans to work with privately-owned Bruce Power to conduct an environmental study of a potential additional facility at the company’s massive existing site on the shores of Lake Huron.

Energy Minister Todd Smith said the move to begin the study, consultations and other preliminary work is a response to a recent report from the province’s Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO), which concluded that new nuclear power plants must be part of a long-term plan to decarbonize the Ontario’s power grid by 2050.

Ontario’s power grid is expected to face escalating demand in the coming years as drivers switch to electric vehicles and the province’s population grows. The new electric-vehicle battery plants the province has attracted, as well as the province’s plans to help the steel industry move from coal to electric furnaces, will also put large new demands on the system, Mr. Smith said, requiring the same amount of power the entire Ottawa region uses each year.

“We’ve got to look ahead,” he said at an event at the site near Kincardine, Ont., about three hours northwest of Toronto. “We’ve got to look to the future. We know we need to act today to ensure we can continue to power Ontario’s growth through the 2030s and 2040s.”

The province’s electricity system is more than 90 per cent reliant on GHG-free nuclear and hydroelectric sources, but it is set to expand its use of natural gas in the coming years as aging nuclear plants go offline to be refurbished and the need for electricity is expected to grow rapidly.

Already, about 30 per cent of the province’s power currently comes from Bruce Power’s facility, which the company says is the largest operating nuclear facility in the world. The proposed expansion would add 4,800 megawatts of power generation to the site, which currently produces 6,300 megawatts.

Any new nuclear facility in Ontario would require at least a decade for an extensive federal impact assessment and public consultations – including with local Indigenous groups – as well as final approvals by the federal Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. It would also cost many billions of dollars. When the Liberal government of Dalton McGuinty scrapped plans for a new full-scale facility near Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington site in Clarington, east of Toronto, more than a decade ago, the projected price tag was expected to be more than $25-billion. The government provided no cost estimate on Wednesday.

OPG, a provincial corporation that owns much of the province’s other generating capacity, and Bruce Power, which was spun off as private-sector company in 2001, are already spending $25-billion on multi-year refurbishments of their existing reactors to extend their lives.

OPG is also seeking to build what is known as a small modular reactor (SMR) at its Darlington site. And last fall, Ontario announced plans to try to keep OPG’s Pickering nuclear power plant operating for an extra year, which would allow it to run until 2026. OPG is also studying whether it makes sense to extend Pickering’s life for decades with a 10-year, $10-billion refurbishment of four of its six reactors, with a decision expected by the end of the year.

While some environmentalists agree that the urgency of the climate crisis means a shift to nuclear is inevitable, many argue that other sources of energy, such as solar and wind are better. They say they are safer, do not produce radioactive waste and are much cheaper than nuclear power, which requires massive projects and in past decades was notorious for cost overruns. Mr. Smith said nuclear power is crucial because it can provide reliable “baseload” power.