Ontario begins construction of 1st small reactor as it aims to lead in new nuclear technology

Ontario has begun building the first of four new, small nuclear reactors, as Canada seeks to lead the Group of Seven industrialized nations in developing next-generation nuclear technology.

Ontario Energy Minister Stephen Lecce announced Thursday at the site that the government approved Ontario Power Generation’s plan to begin construction. Behind Lecce, workers were already excavating the land for the first reactor and grading the site for the others.

“We are protecting Ontario by building the most resilient energy future any country has ever seen,” Lecce said. “We are taking our true place as a global clean energy superpower and a leader in nuclear innovation and technology.”

A number of countries are speeding up efforts to license and build a new generation of nuclear reactors to meet a surging demand for electricity and supply it carbon-free. Canada’s first commercial small modular reactor should be connected to the electrical grid by the end of 2030, Lecce said, putting them ahead of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

In the U.S., Bill Gates’ energy company is preparing a site in Wyoming for a next-generation nuclear power plant while the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission reviews its application for a construction permit. Kairos Power is building a low-power demonstration reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Russia and China are the only countries that are already operating advanced reactors.

Electricity demand in Ontario is expected to soar by 75% by 2050, primarily due to demand from industry and large data centers. Ontario Power Generation picked a boiling water reactor design from GE Vernova for the Darlington New Nuclear Project in Clarington, Ontario. When constructed, each reactor will provide enough electricity to power 300,000 Toronto homes, at 10% the size and complexity of a traditional boiling water reactor, according to GE Vernova. The first will cost $6.1 billion, along with $1.6 billion in costs for systems and services common to all four, Lecce said. The cost is expected to decline with each subsequent reactor.

Canada has historically been a net exporter of electricity, sending significant amounts of hydropower to the United States. In the fall of 2023, the electricity trade between the two countries became more balanced because of drought conditions that reduced the amount of hydropower available and lower natural gas prices in the United States that made U.S. electricity more competitive, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Now with a trade war and U.S. President Donald Trump repeatedly saying that Canada should be the 51st U.S. state, Canadians are feeling like the alliance is broken. Ontario’s Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy alluded to that at Thursday’s nuclear announcement, saying their traditional relationship with the United States isn’t going to be the same and Canada needs new, clean energy.

“The world economy is changing,” he said, “and it’s important that Canada be self-reliant.”

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