Ontario plans a massive expansion of the Bruce nuclear power plant on Lake Huron, almost doubling its capacity by adding 4,800 megawatts of electricity production — enough to power almost five million homes.
The proposal — which still requires years of community consultation, environmental assessments and federal approval — comes as the province is running short of new generation amid fast-rising demand that is expected to continue skyrocketing because of increasing electrification in the coming decades.
“We know we need to act today to power Ontario’s growth through the 2030s and the 2040s,” Energy Minister Todd Smith said Wednesday at the plant near Kincardine.
Ontario’s population is forecast to grow by two million people by the end of the decade.
Critics have said Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government — which cut over 700 green energy projects after it was elected in 2018 — has been caught short by the fast-rising need for electricity coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and is scrambling to get new resources online.
An operating of the newer “B” reactor units at the Pickering nuclear station just east of Toronto is also under consideration with a final decision expected later this year.
The province’s Independent Electricity System Operator has predicted Ontario could need to increase its power generation capacity to 88,000 megawatts in 2050 — more than double the capacity of 42,000 megawatts today.
Nuclear power supplies about half of the province’s electricity. The Bruce plant is the largest operating nuclear power station in the world and can produce 6,550 megawatts of power. Adding 4,800 MW would increase that to 11,350.
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It could take several years of what Smith called “pre-development” consultations, assessments and approvals before construction of new nuclear units at Bruce could begin, Smith cautioned, noting the work would bring “thousands of jobs.”