Doug Ford government hopes to refurbish Pickering nuclear plant

The Ontario government is throwing its support behind a plan to refurbish the Pickering nuclear plant, which they say could keep the facility open another 30 years.

Energy Minister Todd Smith made the announcement late Tuesday morning, saying the refurbishment of the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station would create thousands of new jobs and help produce a total of 2,000 megawatts of electricity.

Officials say that’s enough electricity to power about two million homes.

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According to Ontario Power Generation, the nuclear plant in Pickering is one of the largest stations in the world. About 14 per cent of Ontario’s electricity is produced at this facility.

It was set to be shut down in 2025, but the province is seeking approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to extend that to September 2026.

A date for an extension hearing has yet to be set.

At the time, the government suggested the province would need to harness the capacity of the facility in Pickering due to “unprecedented growth” and the need to fill an electricity supply gap. As such, they were also eyeing a refurbishment of the plant.

The Independent Electricity System Operator projected in 2023 that Ontario's electricity demand could double by mid-century. The province has said it is exploring new renewable electricity generation to fill some of that gap, but it has also said it won’t be stepping back on natural gas.

In July, the government said it would be adding three more small modular reactors at the site of the Darlington nuclear plant. These additions would produce 1,200 more megawatts of electricity by the mid-2030s.

The refurbishment of the Pickering plant, which is also subject to approval by the CNSC, could be completed as early as the mid-2030s, the government said.

Officials also say it could increase Ontario’s GDP by $19.4 billion over 11 years and create about 11,000 jobs per year.

The government did not say how much it would cost to refurbish the four units within the nuclear plant—known as Pickering B—but said the price tag for the first phase was about $2 billion.

When asked why the government would spend this much money before obtaining CNSC approval, the minister said they had “so much confidence in the team at OPG on being able to deliver this project, this refurbishment, on time and on schedule.”

Smith added it would be “irresponsible” to put a dollar figure to the refurbishment at this point as there is still a lot of planning to do.

In 2016, the government said the refurbishment of the Darlington nuclear power station had a budget of $12.8 billion.

Opponents insist Ontario is time travelling with energy policy, moving backwards instead of looking at research that says wind and solar "are the way of the future."

"It's the equivalent of deciding to repair my dad's old Betamax VHS instead of getting a Netflix subscription," Keith Stewart, senior energy strategist with Greenpeace Canad, told CTV News Toronto.

 

"They say solar has replaced coal as the king of the electricity system."

Jack Gibbons, Chair Ontario Clean Air Alliance, added that investing in nuclear will have consequences on checkbooks. 

 

"Rebuilding the Pickering nuclear station will push our electricity rates up even higher," he said. "And that doesn't make sense when now wind and solar is our lowest cost source of new electricity supply."

 

Smith, meanwhile, said that investing in an aging nuclear plant rather then renewable energy “makes sense.”

“ What others are saying we should do doesn't make sense for the stability of our grid,” he added.

“This was what was going to be the best bang for the buck and provide the certainty that ratepayers in the province are looking for.”

In 2016, the government said the refurbishment of the Darlington nuclear power station had a budget of $12.8 billion.

With files from the Canadian Press