OPG to begin $12.8M nuclear plant renovation
Job-creating project coincides with byelection in Whitby-Oshawa
Ontario plans to milk four more years out of its Pickering nuclear power plant, keeping it running until 2024 to provide electricity during a mammoth $12.8-million refurbishment of the nearby Darlington station.
The Pickering move, which requires public hearings and approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, will save up to $600 million compared to running natural-gas fired plants or imports to fill the gap.
“The price is right and it is emissions-free,” Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli said Monday in front of a reactor mock-up at Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington plant, just east of Oshawa on the shore of Lake Ontario.
“It is a significant savings” and will keep electricity price hikes “modest,” he added.
Chiarelli also touted the high-tech jobs that will result from both projects, an average of 8,800 annually for 10 years during the Darlington project and extending 4,500 at Pickering, which was slated for closure. The announcement came just hours after Premier Kathleen Wynne confirmed a byelection will be held in the riding of Whitby-Oshawa on Feb. 11 to replace former Progressive Conservative MPP Christine Elliott.
It’s no coincidence the Liberal government would trumpet the local jobs with the vote looming, said Conservative MPP and energy critic John Yakabuski.
“They may certainly try to get a bump out of that,” added Yakabuski, who applauded the refurbishment that will keep Darlington running until at least 2050 and extend the lifespan at Pickering.
“They’ve made a lot of mistakes in the energy sector but . . . this is clean, green, reliable emission-free power.”
Critics accused the government, already under fire for skyrocketing electricity prices, for ignoring alternatives in sticking with nuclear as the foundation of the electricity system.
“It’s outrageously irresponsible for Liberals to commit billions of your dollars to a project without a review of costs and alternatives,” said Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner. “No nuclear project in Ontario’s history has been delivered on time or on budget.” New Democrat MPP Peter Tabuns echoed that concern, calling for the government to detail its “business case” for the project.
“Ontarians have good reason to be disappointed in the Liberal government’s handling of the energy file.”
Wynne said the Darlington work, in addition to a $13-billion refurbishment of the Bruce nuclear plant on Lake Huron announced five weeks ago, is essential to secure a steady supply of electricity free of greenhouse gas emissions.
“There’s a cost associated with having clean, reliable energy,” she said at Queen’s Park. Importing enough power from Quebec to replace Darlington — which supplies enough electricity to feed Toronto — would require more expensive upgrades to transmission systems, Chiarelli said. “It’s not doable and it’s not feasible.” The government said electricity from a refurbished Darlington would remain in the range of 7 to 8 cents per kilowatt hour.
Given Ontario’s record with nuclear costs running amok, Yakabuski said the government must keep a tight watch on costs.
OPG chief executive Jeff Lyash said the Crown utility will take 40 months to fully refurbish the first of four reactors before doing the three others to work out any bugs before the bulk of the work is done.
“We’ve put years into the planning,” Lyash said. “We’ll get the job done safely, we’ll get the job done on time and we’ll get the job done on budget.”
Chiarelli said there are no kill fees to the dozens of southern Ontario contractors involved in the project if it is cancelled but that some provisions would be subject to arbitration.
He pledged any decision to scrap the project could be made “without any significant costs.”
Lyash said workers on the project will rehearse their refurbishment techniques for the mock-up reactor before heading in to the actual reactors to update the innards.