Ontario Power Generation (OPG) has celebrated the official opening of its Centre for Canadian Nuclear Sustainability (CCNS) located in Durham Region, Ontario’s nuclear capital.

The centre will attract skilled jobs, innovative businesses and economic development to the Durham region as well as advance solutions for minimising nuclear materials and recycling clean materials, OPG said. With participation from the wider industry, the Centre will operate as a hub to:

leverage and coordinate Ontario’s vast talents and competencies to make Canada a world leader in nuclear decommissioning;advance innovative solutions for nuclear materials, with a continuing emphasis on minimising the environmental footprint by reducing volumes, and diverting and recycling clean materials;stimulate economic growth in Ontario using cross collaboration between organizations that will lead to the launch of projects and research and development opportunities; andcollaborate by forming partnerships with the industry, community, local businesses, academia and Indigenous communities, as well as interprovincial and international organizations to discover research, development and export opportunities for innovative nuclear energy solutions.

As owner of the largest Candu reactor fleet in Canada, OPG said it has a unique ability to harness and consolidate activities across the nuclear industry to provide sustainable solutions for the nuclear lifecycle.

The CCNS is looking forward to collaborating with the City of Pickering, Town of Ajax, Region of Durham and a wide array of other community and industry partners including the Organisation of Canadian Nuclear Industries, Candu Owners Group, and academic institutions such as Ontario Tech University, Durham College and the University Network of Excellence in Nuclear Engineering (UNENE). Other collaboration efforts at the centre include Industry Catalyst Partners including: Aecon, Aecom, Alithya, ATS Automation, Black and McDonald, BWXT Canada Ltd, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, Cavendish, E.S. Fox, Fluor, Framatome, Hatch, Laurentis, Nuclear Promise X, Nuvia, Promation and Westinghouse.

OPG President and CEO Ken Hartwick said through the centre, OPG will develop innovative solutions for nuclear decommissioning and materials. Pickering’s six Candu units are scheduled to close by 2024 while the four units at the Darlington nuclear power plant are being refurbished, which will enable them to operate for a further 30 years.