Ontario Power Generation has won a licence for site preparation for a new nuclear power plant at its Darlington site. The project is for up to four reactors with total power of up to 4800 MWe.

Darlington nuclear site

Darlington nuclear site; new-build location to left

Last month OPG asked Westinghouse and CANDU to work up detailed costings for their APR 1000 and Enhanced CANDU 6 designs, respectively. A technology choice has not been made.

The proposed site is primarily the easterly third of the overall Darlington Nuclear site, bounded by the Darlington Nuclear site property limits on the east and north boundaries and by Lake Ontario to the south.

Public hearings were held 21 March-8 April 2012 and received testimony from CNSC staff, OPG staff, 14 government departments, and 264 other intervenors. The government of Canada approved the project’s environmental assessment report in May 2012. OPG applied for the site preparation licence in September 2009. The project will require a licence to construct and then a licence to operate before the new plant can begin operation.

Mid-term reports on the project’s progress were requested for presentation in 2017.