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.
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.
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