Federal government grants licence for new nuclear reactors for first time in 30 years

OTTAWA — For the first time in 30 years, a preparatory federal licence has been issued for new nuclear reactors.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has formally issued a site-preparation licence allowing pre-construction activities for up to four proposed nuclear reactors on land adjacent to Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) existing four-reactor Darlington nuclear generation station, near Bowmanville, east of Toronto.

The move comes as Ontario’s reliance on nuclear power last year hit a record level, supplying 56.9 per cent of the province’s energy needs, according to the Independent Electricity System Operator.

The federal permit is the first of three required to build and operate a new nuclear reactor. It covers work at Darlington such as land clearing, excavating and grading and the installation of services and utilities to service two proposed reactors.

The last time a similar federal licence was issued was 1981 for construction of Darlington’s four existing Candu reactors.

Rough estimates peg the cost of new reactors at $10 billion each.

Whether work actually goes ahead is another matter.

OPG began seeking the licence in 2006, part of an Ontario government strategy to maintain nuclear energy as the province’s chief source of energy.

Three years later, in 2009, a bid by federally owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (ACEL) to build the two reactors seemed to have the edge over bids from France’s nuclear giant Areva and the U.S.’s Westinghouse.

But the provincial government soon brought everything to a halt, announcing it was suspending the procurement process until a restructuring of the Crown corporation was completed.

Then provincial energy minister George Smitherman added AECL’s undisclosed price would need to come down by “billions of dollars.”

AECL’s commercial reactor division was sold to SNC-Lavalin for $15 million a year ago and renamed Candu Energy Inc. With its future more certain, Ontario Energy Minister Chris Bentley revealed in June the province is resuming the Darlington expansion process, with an eye to generating 2,000 more megawatts of nuclear power.

OPG recently signed service contracts worth $26 million with Candu Energy Inc. and Westinghouse to prepare detailed construction plans, schedules and cost estimates for the two potential reactors at Darlington.

The reactor designs are limited to the Enhanced Candu 6 (EC6) by Candu Energy Inc., and the AP 1000 reactor by Westinghouse. (As part of the AECL sale to SNC-Lavalin, the federal government is to provide up to $75 million to complete development of the EC6.)

The companies have a year to submit their reports.

“The provincial government will (then) make a decision whether to move forward with new nuclear at our Darlington site. There’s no time frame on that,” says Neal Kelly, an OPG spokesman.

Until then, no site preparation work will be undertaken.

The preparatory licence was granted by a CNSC joint review panel that spent more than two years reviewing an OPG environmental impact statement supporting the project. The panel also held 17 days of public hearings and received submissions from 264 interveners.

In May, the federal government endorsed the panel’s conclusion that a Darlington expansion will not endanger public health and safety or the environment.

Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: Ian MacLeod