Ontario awards 14 GTHA contracts for Darlington small reactor

Fourteen companies in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area have won contracts to supply the first small modular reactor at Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington site, the Ontario government said Friday.

The contracts cover parts such as transformers, pumps and specialized steel for the Darlington New Nuclear Project in Clarington, east of Toronto. The province said they will add more than $110 million to Ontario’s gross domestic product. It did not give the total value of the contracts.

The only contract value named in the Ministry of Energy and Mines news release is a $3.9-million deal for Scarborough-based Armstrong Fluid Technology to supply a pumphouse enclosure and pumps. Other suppliers named in the release include Hooper Welding of Oakville, which is supplying steel for structural modules from a new nuclear bay in Hamilton, and St. Mary’s Cement of Toronto, which is supplying concrete and running a high-density concrete plant on the project. Celeros Flow Technology said it will build the reactor’s control rod drive pump in Burlington.

“By being first in the G7 to build small modular reactors, Ontario is securing a first-mover advantage that translates into real contracts and good-paying jobs,” Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce said.

The project

The province approved construction of the first of four reactors at Darlington in 2025. The four units, each a GE Hitachi BWRX-300 design, are to produce 1,200 megawatts together, which the province says is enough for about 1.2 million homes.

The government says the four reactors will add $38.5 billion to Canada’s GDP over 65 years and sustain about 3,800 jobs. It says it has worked with OPG so that 80 per cent of project spending goes to Ontario companies, and that more than 100 Canadian companies have signed agreements with OPG on the project.

Public money in the project includes $1 billion from Ontario through the Building Ontario Fund and $2 billion from the federal Canada Growth Fund, according to the release. The province has not published the full cost of the project in this announcement.

What it means for you

Nuclear power supplies about half of Ontario’s electricity now, and the Independent Electricity System Operator forecasts that demand could rise by as much as 90 per cent by 2050. How much the new reactors cost, and how fast they come online, will shape future electricity rates in the province.