Small modular reactor in Clarington, first new nuke in a generation, heads to public hearing

BANFF, Alta. — A public hearing slated for next week is the next milestone for what could be Canada’s first grid-scale small modular nuclear reactor (SMR).

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is set to hold the first of a two-part public hearing on Ontario Power Generation’s proposed plan to build a 300-megawatt SMR at its Darlington nuclear site.

If approved, the unit would be the first new nuclear reactor built in Ontario in a generation and would produce enough nuclear energy to power 300,000 homes.

OPG ultimately hopes to build a fleet of four SMRs at Darlington, with the goal of delivering 1,200 megawatts of nuclear-generated electricity — enough to power 1.2 million homes.

Kim Lauritsen, OPG’s senior vice-president of enterprise strategy and energy markets, spoke at a conference in Banff, Alta., on Friday and told the crowd that the company is willing to take the “first-mover risk” because it believes SMRs are key to a low-carbon, reliable future electricity supply.

Pending regulatory approval, OPG has said nuclear construction work on the first unit could begin in early 2025 and be operational by 2029. The rest of the units in the proposed fleet would come online by the mid-2030s.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2024.

Amanda Stephenson, The Canadian Press

The Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, in Pickering, Ont., is seen on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

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