Regulatory oversight and reporting

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) confirms OPG’s Pickering and Darlington Nuclear Generating Stations to be satisfactory in all safety and control areas.

The 2024 CNSC Regulatory Oversight Report confirms that Pickering and Darlington Nuclear Generating Stations as well as OPG's Waste Management Storage Facilities continued to be fully compliant in calendar year 2024.

Combined, the plants provide about 30% of the electricity used in the Ontario.

Darlington’s high rating is the strongest continuous performance by any Canadian nuclear power plant and is recognized by the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) as among the top performing nuclear power plants in the world.

OPG and Ontario are investing $12.8 billion in refurbishing the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, and, as one of Canada’s largest clean power projects, it will preserve about 3,000 jobs and provide 30-plus years of clean, reliable base load power at a cost lower than other alternatives considered.

OPG was granted approval from the CNSC to operate Pickering Nuclear until December 2026, to ensure a reliable, clean source of base load electricity during refurbishment.

Independent studies show that Pickering can operate reliably and safely to 2026 and that doing so would avoid 17 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere. That’s like taking 3.4 million cars off Ontario roads.

Continued operations will:

• Save consumers $600 million dollars.
• Protect 4,500 jobs in Durham Region.
• Reflect public support: 75% of Ontarians support the refurbishment of Darlington, and 80% supporting the Pickering extension.

Explore the CNSC's paste Integrated Safety Assessments for Pickering.

OPG is committed to monitoring airborne and waterborne effluents from the Darlington Nuclear and Pickering Nuclear sites. OPG has established an effluent monitoring and control program that is based on the “ALARA” principle. That is, measures are in place to ensure emissions to the environment are kept As Low As Reasonably Achievable while taking social and economic factors into account.

OPG maintains Environmental Monitoring Programs (EMPs) in the vicinity of our nuclear facilities to assess the impact on human health and the environment from contaminants and physical stressors of concern resulting from the operation of these facilities. The EMPs provide an independent ongoing check on the effectiveness of containment and effluent control.

The EMPs assess the concentrations of radionuclides in air, water, milk, vegetation, animal feed, eggs, poultry, beach sand and fish samples taken in the vicinity of Darlington and Pickering Nuclear sites. Samples from provincial background locations are also used to determine background radiation levels in areas considered to be outside the influence of the nuclear stations.

The sampling results, as well as the associated public radiation dose assessments, are summarized in an annual EMP report which is a regulatory requirement of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The EMP results demonstrate that the public dose resulting from the operation of OPG nuclear facilities remains a very small fraction of both the annual regulatory dose limit and the annual natural background radiation in the area. Explore our recent EMP reports on our Regulatory Reporting web page.