The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has authorized Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to build a new reactor at the Darlington New Nuclear Project (DNNP) site in Clarington, Ontario (Canada). The authority approved the project to carry out the activities under a licence valid until 31 March 2035, subject to site-specific licence conditions and regulatory hold-points to approve its progression. The license does not extend to the operation of the power plant since that will be subject to a different licensing procedure.
Ontario Power Generation applied for the DNNP’s construction licence in October 2022. The Darlington project represents the site preparation, construction, operation, decommissioning and abandonment of up to 4 new nuclear reactors at the existing 3.5 GW Darlington Nuclear site, to generate up to 4.8 GW of electricity for the Ontario grid. In December 2021, OPG selected the General Electric Hitachi BWRX-300 reactor (300 MW) for deployment at the DNNP site. In October 2022, OPG applied to the CNSC for a licence to construct one BWRX-300 reactor for this project, and the Commission determined in April 2024 that the Environmental Assessment for the DNNP remained applicable to the selected reactor technology.
At the end of 2023, Canada had a total installed capacity of 158 GW, of which nuclear represented 8% (12.5 GW). The federal government targets to have a net-zero electricity mix by 2035 and zero emissions in 2050.
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