Federal, Ontario governments contributing $3B to small nuclear reactor project

The federal and Ontario governments are putting a total of $3 billion toward a project to build four small nuclear reactors in the Greater Toronto Area.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has added the Darlington New Nuclear Project to his list of projects deemed to be in the national interest and therefore worthy of fast tracking.

He and Premier Doug Ford were at the site east of Toronto on Thursday to announce that their governments are contributing $2 billion and $1 billion, respectively, from the Canada Growth Fund and the Building Ontario Fund.

Carney said it will make Canada the first country in the G7 to have this new kind of nuclear reactor.

"(It is) a generational investment, an investment that will extend Canada's world leadership in clean energy," he said. "We are an energy superpower, and we are only getting stronger."

Ontario Power Generation has said the entire project should cost about $21 billion.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission granted OPG a licence to construct the first of the four SMRs earlier this year and construction began in the spring. It is expected to come online in 2030.

Once all four SMRs are up and running, they will produce 1,200 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 1.2 million homes. They are expected to operate for 65 years and the province predicts the project will create 18,000 jobs, including 3,700 highly skilled jobs.

Ford stressed that 80 per cent of the spending on the entire project will go to Ontario companies.

"We're using Ontario products at every opportunity so that Ontario tax dollars support Ontario workers," he said.

"That includes using steel made here in the province, by Ontario steelworkers, to build the new SMRs. With tariffs and economic uncertainty hammering Ontario's workers and businesses, this is exactly the sort of investment our province needs."

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston