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Prime Minister Carney and Ontario premier Doug Ford both made funding announcements supporting construction of small modular reactors at Darlington Nuclear Station, the first such units to be built in the G7 nations.
The Darlington New Nuclear Project site in Bowmanville, Ont., is among the first projects to become part of the Major Projects Office’s mandate. (CNW Group/Ontario Power Generation Inc.)
The Darlington New Nuclear Project (DNNP) in Bowmanville, Ont., received a boost of funding support – actually two boosts – as the federal and provincial governments both announced sizeable investments in the project, which will see four small modular reactors (SMRs) be built at the Darlington facility.
Calling it a catalyst for new jobs, industrial growth and a clean-energy future that will put Canada at the forefront of global nuclear innovation, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the Canada Growth Fund will invest $2 billion to support the construction and operation of the SMRs. The prime minister was joined by the Ontario Premier, Doug Ford, who announced that the Government of Ontario will also invest in the project, providing $1 billion through its Building Ontario Fund.
With the first of the reactors expected to be operational by 2030, the project will make Canada the first G7 country to bring SMR technology online. Once complete, the first of Darlington’s four SMRs is expected to provide power to 300,000 homes and drive $500 million annually into Ontario’s nuclear supply chain, while sustaining 3,700 jobs on an annual basis, over the next 65 years.
“Today’s investment to support the first SMRs in the G7 is a down payment on Ontario’s nuclear energy future,” said Ford. “We’re protecting Ontario by supporting good-paying, long-term jobs for Ontario workers and building the energy infrastructure, including both SMRs and new, large-scale nuclear, needed to make Ontario an energy superpower.”
“The Darlington New Nuclear Project will create thousands of high-paying careers and power thousands of Ontario homes with clean energy,” added Carney. “This is a generational investment that will build lasting security, prosperity and opportunities.”
In addition to the Darlington New Nuclear Project and refurbishments at the Darlington and Pickering nuclear generating stations and Bruce Power, the Province of Ontario is exploring multiple new nuclear energy generation projects to build for the future, including OPG’s Wesleyville site in Port Hope, which could host up to 10,000 MW of power, and conducting pre-development work with Bruce Power to site the first large-scale nuclear build in over three decades with up to 4,800 MW of new nuclear generation.
“With rising instability in the global economy, now is exactly the time to be building big, creating thousands of jobs, and investing in the Canadian nuclear supply chain,” said Stephen Lecce, Ontario’s minister of Energy and Mines. “Ontario’s leading the largest nuclear expansion on the continent, anchored by the G7’s first SMR being built at Darlington.”
Ontario Power Generation remains the majority owner and operator of the DNNP, with the Canada Growth Fund and the Building Ontario Fund acquiring meaningful minority stakes in the project, representing 15 per cent and 7.5 per cent ownership, respectively.