May 08, 2025

Ontario Power Generation wants to build 4 small modular reactors at a total cost of $20.9B

Premier Doug Ford's government has given Ontario Power Generation the green light to start construction on Canada's first small modular reactor, a new nuclear energy technology to be built next door to the Darlington power plant.

The small modular reactor (SMR) would provide 300 megawatts of power, enough electricity to supply about 300,000 homes, according to briefing documents from Ontario's Ministry of Energy and Mines.

It would be the first of four such reactors that OPG aims to build on the site, at a total project cost of $20.9 billion, in an effort to meet what's forecast to be a steep rise in demand for electricity in the province.

"Ontario needs more power, I think we understand this problem today. When you turn the lights on in your living room you may not think about where that power comes from," said Stephen Lecce, Ontario's minister of energy and mines, on Thursday.

"But ensuring that we have reliable, affordable energy is essential to the economic sovereignty of our province and country," he continued.

Ontario would become the first place in the world to build the BWRX-300, which is a smaller version of GE Hitachi's existing boiling water reactor technology.

The officials say the Canadian companies involved in the project will have the potential to export components to other countries that decide to build this type of SMR.

The timeline is to finish construction of the first reactor by the end of 2029, and connect it to the grid in 2030.

The average lifetime cost of electricity generated by the SMRs is estimated to be 14.9 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh), according to an analysis by the Independent Electricity System Operator, the provincial agency that oversees the provincial grid.

According to that analysis, providing a similar level of base power as the SMRs by building wind and solar power with battery energy storage would cost in the range of 13.5 to 18.4 cents per kWh.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/small-modular-reactor-nuclear-power-ontar...

Did AnAl pluck that $600 billion number from his arse?