Ont. plans 2 new nuclear reactors at Darlington

Decision made after 'review of all the relevant issues'

Becky Rynor
Canwest News Service

Monday, June 16, 2008
CHCH News

Two new nuclear reactors will be built at the site of the Darlington A power station near Toronto, Ontario Energy Minister Gerry Phillips announced Monday.

"The decision to go with Darlington was made after a review of all the relevant issues," said Alan Findlay, a spokesman for the province's Ministry of Energy.

Findlay said the decision to build the reactors came down to a choice between Darlington, 75 kilometres east of Toronto, and the Bruce nuclear plant in Tiverton, Ont., 223 kilometres northwest of Toronto.

With the new plants going to Darlington, the Bruce facility will continue to provide approximately 6,300 megawatts of electricity, either through a refurbishing and upgrade of the Bruce B plant or by building new units at what would be called Bruce C, Findlay added.

"Maintaining and renewing Ontario's nuclear energy fleet is an important part of the Ontario government's climate change plan and its 20-year plan to bring clean, affordable and reliable electricity to Ontarians," the minister said in a news release.

The notion of a nuclear reactor as a green energy source has caused deep divisions among activists. Several prominent environmentalists, including Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore, are vocal proponents. Others dismiss nuclear energy's environmental benefits as propaganda put forward by the industry.

"You'd have to have a pretty high price on carbon for that benefit to start to show because of the large upfront costs involved in building a new nuclear plant," said Shawn-Patrick Stensil, a Greenpeace campaigner.

Monday's announcement outlines the latest steps in the process to select and build a two-unit nuclear power plant and maintain Ontario's nuclear generation capacity at 14,000 megawatts.

In the same announcement, AREVA NP, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., and Westinghouse Electric Company also were identified as the three organizations invited to bid on the nuclear power plant construction project.

Their bids will be evaluated on the basis of three key considerations: lifetime cost of the power; ability to meet Ontario's timetable to bring the new power supply online in 2018, and the level of investment they will bring to Ontario.

The successful vendor will be chosen by the end of this year. Construction of the new plant is expected to create about 3,500 direct construction and engineering jobs between 2012 and 2018.

With the area's top employer, the auto industry bleeding, many welcomed the prospect of thousands of new jobs.

"It's good news," said Jim Abernethy, the mayor of Clarington, Ont. "And that's something we need here in Durham region because we've been getting bad news."

The Ontario government will demand budget guarantees from the builder which it says will protect from some, but not all, overruns.

"We're going to use this very competitive process to get the best possible deal," Phillips said.

The new plant will be operated by Ontario Power Generation.

With files from Global News