Ontario and the federal government are spending a collective $3 billion to build Canada’s first small modular reactors, a new nuclear energy technology to be built next door to the Darlington power plant.
Premier Doug Ford called it “a down payment on Ontario’s nuclear future,” in a provincial release Thursday, which said the project will make Ontario’s economy more competitive, resilient and self-reliant in the face of U.S. tariffs.
“We’re protecting Ontario by supporting good-paying, longterm jobs for Ontario workers and building the energy infrastructure — including both SMRs [small modular reactors] and new, large-scale nuclear — needed to make Ontario an energy superpower,” Ford said in the release.
To help build the first of four SMRs at Darlington Nuclear Station, the province will spend $1 billion through the Building Ontario Fund, while Ottawa will spend $2 billion through the Canada Growth Fund, according to the release.
A concept image of a GE Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR), the nuclear technology Ontario Power Generation is using for its new project adjacent to the existing Darlington nuclear plant. (GE-Hitachi)“This is a generational investment that will build lasting security, prosperity and opportunities,” Carney said in Thursday’s release, which said the SMRs will produce 1,200 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power 1.2 million homes.
The province's electricity system operator recently estimated that demand for power across Ontario is set to increase 75 per cent by 2050.
Carney also joined Ford in Bowmanville, Ont., Thursday morning to announce the project spending. That news conference is being carried live in this story.
Earlier this year, the Ford government gave Ontario Power Generation (OPG) the green light to start construction on the first SMR. The total project cost, which was not included in Thursday’s release, was announced at the time as $20.9 billion, with the estimated construction cost of the initial reactor being $7.7 billion.
At the time, no taxpayer money was allotted to build the project. It was announced then that OPG would finance the construction cost through a combination of cash on hand and taking on debt, recovering the cost over the lifetime of the project by charging ratepayers for electricity.
Construction on the first SMR began in May and it is expected to come online in 2030, according to Thursday’s release.
The province said in its Thursday release that the SMRs will inject $500 million annually into the Canadian supply chain, while construction, operation and maintenance of the four units will add $38.5 billion to Canada’s GDP over the next 65 years.
In a briefing earlier this year, Ministry of Energy and Mines officials told reporters that roughly 80 per cent of the SMR project spending will go to Ontario companies, another 15 per cent to European and Asian firms, and just five per cent to companies in the U.S., primarily for GE Hitachi's design and development of the power plant model, called the BWRX-300.
Ontario would become the first place in the world to build the BWRX-300, which is a smaller version of GE Hitachi's existing boiling water reactor technology.