In 2012, following the acceptance of an environmental assessment, the CNSC granted OPG a licence to allow site preparation activities to support future nuclear generation.
The application for renewal of the licence will be considered by the CNSC at a public hearing scheduled to take place on 9 and 10 June 2021.
Darlington is the only site in Canada currently licensed for new nuclear. OPG owns and operates the Pickering and Darlington nuclear stations in Ontario.
Additional generation at Darlington would allow low-carbon, reliable nuclear energy to continue being an important part of Ontario’s energy mix, the OCNI said. Renewal of the licence would be one step in a series of licences and regulatory approvals needed before the construction and operation of a new reactor.
In November 2020, OPG announced it was resuming planning activities for a new nuclear power reactor at its Darlington site with a small modular reactor scheduled for possible completion by 2028.
OPG said it was advancing engineering and design work with three developers of grid-scale SMRs as it seeks to become a world leader in the SMR sector. The company said it would be collaborating with GE Hitachi (GEH), Terrestrial Energy and X-energy. OPG has chosen three SMR technologies for further evaluation. They are GEH’s BWRX-300, Terrestrial Energy’s Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) and X-energy’s Xe-100 SMR.