SMRs are a flexible, scalable nuclear solution. They can address climate change by helping Ontario manage the increased electricity demand that begins to emerge in the middle of this decade, due primarily to the electrification of the transportation sector and other currently high-emitting sectors.

A fleet of four grid-scale SMRs in Ontario will also pave the way for the deployment of this technology elsewhere in Canada and abroad, particularly in those jurisdictions seeking to replace their coal-powered plants with carbon-free sources.

Nuclear is a proven carbon-free energy source. Canada will need to harness all clean energy technologies to achieve its climate change objectives and net-zero by 2050. Nuclear provides the clean, reliable baseload power necessary to meet increasing electricity demands.

SMR technologies are critical to this approach and represent significant potential for Canadian leadership.

The evidence is clear, as stated by experts like the International Atomic Energy Agency - without nuclear, there is no path to bringing the world’s carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050. 

An August 2023 Conference Board of Canada study concluded that the construction and operation and maintenance of four new nuclear Small Modular Reactor (SMR) plants will have a significant economic impact on the Ontarian and Canadian economy.

Specifically, economic benefits are four times better with four SMRs than with one, and four SMRs at Darlington are expected to:

• increase Canadian GDP $15.3 billion over 65 years; and
• sustain, on average, approximately 2,000 jobs per year – over 65 years.

This corresponds to a nearly $3.8 billion increase in GDP and 500 jobs per year over the same time period per SMR.

The economic impact, or the ratio of increased GDP to spending (the “economic multiplier") is 0.82 – each dollar spent would increase Canadian GDP by $0.82 across the total lifespan of the technologies.

Nuclear power is the backbone of Ontario’s electricity system and provides affordable and reliable energy 24/7 – avoiding 45 million tonnes of CO² emissions each year.

In Canada alone, nuclear power helps avoid carbon emissions each year the equivalent of removing 15 million cars from the road.

A single SMR of about 300 Megawatts electric (MWe) in size can prevent between 0.3 megatonnes (MT) to 2 MT of CO² emissions per year depending where it is located and what kind of power it is displacing. 

Nuclear is also the right choice from a land-use perspective: to generate the same amount of energy as nuclear, solar would require about 100 times and wind about 500 times more land area.

OPG has invested, and continues to invest, in the Darlington Refurbishment project, and as announced in January 2024, Pickering now has the opportunity to continue producing safe, reliable energy for Ontario by delivering another world-class refurbishment project for the benefit of generations to come. CANDU technology forms the backbone of our nuclear generating fleet, and will continue to do so for decades to come.

Our planning goal is to complete construction of the first SMR by end of 2028, and be commercially available by the end of 2029.

Similar to how we’ve planned and executed our on-time, on-budget Darlington Refurbishment Project, timing of construction of subsequent units will be staged to ensure we can apply learnings from the first unit’s construction to deliver cost and time savings on subsequent units. Additional regulatory approvals will be required prior to construction and operation of additional units.

Importing electricity from neighbouring jurisdictions is important for the reliability of the grid. But, it is not possible to rely solely on imports to solve the baseload capacity needed to meet Ontario’s year-round energy needs emerging in the middle of this decade, nor will relying heavily on imports support Ontario’s economic and environmental objectives to build out new clean energy infrastructure here in Ontario.

As well, every neighbouring jurisdiction to Ontario will be facing increased demand for electricity at the same time as we do, which would impact prices and reliability.

Some options for importing power simply don’t have as clean a grid as Ontario, which could mean power produced by coal and other fuels producing more GHGs than Ontario, undermining our work to have electricity help efficiently decarbonize the broader economy, as promised in our Climate Change Plan.

No. The governments of Ontario, New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, and Alberta have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate to advance SMRs as a clean energy option to address climate change and regional energy demands, while supporting economic growth and innovation. 

The SMR Feasibility Study, formally requested as part of the MOU in December 2019, concludes that the development of SMRs would support domestic energy needs, curb greenhouse gas emissions, and position Canada as a global leader in this emerging technology.

Now, the four provinces have agreed to a joint strategic plan outlining the path forward on SMRs. The plan builds on the SMR Feasibility Study by identifying provincial strategies for SMR deployment, including actions to enable decision making and actions following potential provincial decisions to proceed.

Ontario has a long history of safe, reliable nuclear power generation.

The province is also home to an extensive nuclear supply chain, which has recently been rejuvenated and recapitalized by refurbishment of existing nuclear generation facilities, including Darlington.

A 2019 study for the Canadian Nuclear Association and Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries shows the nuclear industry contributes $17 billion per year to the Canadian GDP and supports about 76,000 jobs in Canada.

Not only that, but the Darlington site is the only site in Canada currently licensed for new nuclear build with an accepted environmental assessment.

Going first will benefit all Ontarians and cement Durham Region’s position as the clean energy capital of Ontario.

Acting as a first mover of SMR technology is a significant global leadership opportunity for Ontario and Canada. It will allow us to capture first-mover benefits and export market opportunities. It is likely companies involved in the first deployment will have opportunities elsewhere in Canada and abroad as use of SMRs grows.

OPG conducted an extensive review process, starting in 2018, to examine the many different SMR technologies within the nuclear industry. 

In 2020, we underwent a Due Diligence process, which included a deep dive into certain SMR technologies. From there, OPG developed a list of three developers who possessed technology we felt satisfied our environmental assessment commitments and could achieve our goal to have an SMR commercially available in 2029.

Each technology was assessed against a number of key areas, such as: safety, technological readiness, licensability at our Darlington site, environmental impact, economic development potential, and cost.

In December 2021, OPG announced we were partnering with reactor technology developer, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH). OPG is confident GEH’s BWRX-300 reactor technology is best positioned to provide a new source of carbon-free nuclear energy for Ontario’s future projected energy and capacity demand, and to support the potential for deployment of SMRs to other Canadian jurisdictions interested in reducing fossil fuel use.

OPG’s Darlington New Nuclear team continues to progress site preparation activities, including construction of a roadway on the eastern portion of the Darlington Nuclear site. To prioritize the safety of users, the trail has been diverted away from the construction work and rerouted along Energy Drive. Access to the trail remains available on this rerouted path (see image below). The portion of the Waterfront Trail west of Holt Rd. will not be impacted. OPG will seek to re-establish full access to the Waterfront Trail in stages, once it is safe to do so.

We have a very strong nuclear supply chain in Ontario that serves our current plants, and we want to leverage that Canadian quality and know-how to increase the economic potential for Ontario and Canada. Throughout the development of the DNNP, we will continue to reinforce Canadian content requirements to ensure the Canadian supply chain will be maximized to the extent possible in design, construction, and operational support. Potential suppliers and contractors can connect with the DNNP Procurement Team through the Contact Us form below.

Our team remains focused on delivering the first SMR unit safely, on time, and on budget. In fact, it is the success our project team has experienced on the work done for Unit 1 thus far that has given our shareholder the confidence to move forward with additional units. As we’ve learned from our Darlington Refurbishment project, success on our first unit will pave the way for success on subsequent units, which is why we are prioritizing getting the first one right.

Taking a “fleet” approach will reduce project costs by sharing common infrastructure like cooling water intake, across four units. Due to the modular nature of manufacturing these units, once one is designed and built, subsequent units will be more easily replicable, driving down cost and construction time.

In addition, building four SMRs at Darlington is a real opportunity to cement Ontario’s nuclear supply chain as the supplier of clean energy technology to the world, which means more high-quality jobs in Durham Region and across Ontario.

During the site preparation and construction phases of the project, the public may notice the soil pile adjacent to the eastbound lanes of the 401 at Holt Road continuing to grow. Clean soil, native to the site, is being excavated and relocated from the southern portion of the Darlington Nuclear site, to the northern border, in order to level out the lands where future SMRs are intended to be situated.

Similar to the existing berm located further west of the site, the end state of the soil pile will be a permanent soil structure that would be seeded and planted to blend with the surrounding landscape.