Federal Government accepts recommendations on nuclear project

The Government of Canada has accepted recommendations from a Federal Joint Review Panel on the new nuclear project at the Darlington site.

The project will provide up to 60 years of base load electricity for the people of Ontario and will create significant employment for the construction trades and for Ontario’s manufacturing sector. The construction of new nuclear units at Darlington could result in more than 30,000 person years of direct employment including more than 9,000 person years of employment in Ontario’s manufacturing sector.

With the planned shutdown of all of Ontario’s coal generating plants by 2014 and the decommissioning of the older nuclear units at Pickering over the next 10 years, Ontario will require new reliable and economic base-load generation by 2022. The proposed new nuclear units at Darlington will form an integral part of Ontario’s electricity supply system—consistent with Ontario’s Long-Term Energy Plan that calls for continued reliance on nuclear power for 50 per cent of the province’s energy supply as part of a balanced portfolio.