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Ontario’s Nuclear Folly

Ontario’s nuclear expansion a blunder of epic proportions

David Robertson, Canadian Dimension, December 9, 2025 https://watershedsentinel.ca/article/nuclear-folly/

The last time the nuclear industry got its way in Ontario, the province’s erstwhile publicly-owned electrical utility, Ontario Hydro, spent over two decades building 20 nuclear reactors.

It was a mashup of missed deadlines, cost overruns and a troubling pattern of declining nuclear performance. Even more troubling, the last generation of nuclear reactors forced Ontario Hydro to the edge of bankruptcy. It saddled the province with a mountain of nuclear debt that we are still paying off.

The Ford government is now repeating those costly mistakes in what amounts to the largest expansion of the nuclear industry in Canada’s history – risking a blunder of historic proportions.

Past debt due

In 1999, Ontario Hydro collapsed under the staggering weight of its nuclear debt. At the time, Hydro’s assets were valued at $17.2 billion, but its debt amounted to $38.1 billion. The government was faced with a stranded debt of $20.9 billion.

In response, the Province split Ontario Hydro into five separate organizations. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) took over the generating facilities (hydro, coal, gas, nuclear) and Hydro One (later privatized) the transmission grid. The debt was transferred to Ontario families through special charges on electricity bills and the tax system. It was the world’s largest nuclear bailout – one we are still paying for.

This is a $290 billion nuclear gamble.

Ontario Power Generation is now leading Ontario’s nuclear resurrection, following a series of government directives that put nuclear onto the fast-track while shouldering clean, cost-effective and safe renewables to the side of the road.

It is an astonishing coup. Without putting up their own money, and without bearing the financial risks, the nuclear industry has captured Ontario’s energy policy.

Even a few years ago this would have seemed impossible. Catastrophic accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima had severely tarnished the nuclear safety image. All around the world the cost overruns and lengthy build times of nuclear plants had chilled utility and government interest in new projects. In Europe only one nuclear plant has been built and come online since the late 1990s.

the nuclear industry to deliver electricity on time and on budget. It also demonstrated that nuclear reactors couldn’t provide affordable electricity. In fact, Ontario Hydro’s last public cost comparison (1999) revealed the cost of nuclear energy to be more than six times the cost of hydroelectricity.

Now it seems that all those hard lessons have been forgotten, as the Ford government launches a multipoint nuclear power offensive. It has passed legislation to ensure nuclear is Ontario’s energy priority. It has made commitments to build untested and costly small modular reactors. It has decided to refurbish antiquated nuclear plants when there is no business case to do so. And it has opened the public purse to the appetite of the nuclear industry.

Small modular reactor hype

There will be four new SMRs built at the Darlington nuclear location. Site preparation work is already underway on the first one, for which OPG has convinced the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to forego an environmental assessment.

SMRs are not small and they are not that modular. And they are also not that new. The designs have been kicking around for a long time, but no one wanted to build them and investors were loathe to put up their own money. The fate of SMRs changed when the industry convinced governments in Canada to develop a hype-heavy “SMR Roadmap,” followed by a federal “SMR Action Plan.” The plan includes a wide range of supports, from relaxing regulatory requirements through public relations efforts to absorbing the financial risks of an untried technology.

The Ford government is committing a colossal amount of money to its nuclear gamble

The World Nuclear Industry Status Review is an annual independent assessment of the global nuclear industry. In its 2022 review it concluded: “SMRs continue to hog the headlines in many countries, even though all evidence so far shows that they will likely face major economic challenges and not be competitive on the electricity market. Despite this evidence, nuclear advocates argue that these untested reactor designs are the solution to the nuclear industry’s woes.”

In the 2024 review, analysts note: “The gap between hype about [SMRs] and reality continues to grow. The nuclear industry and multiple governments are doubling down on investments in SMRs, both in monetary and political terms.”

Mortgaging our future

The Ford government is committing a colossal amount of money to its nuclear gamble, including $40 billion for refurbishments at 14 reactors, $20 billion for four SMRs at Darlington, $75 billion for Bruce C, and $156 billion for Port Hope.

That is a $290 billion nuclear gamble. If we add the $26 billion which is the official preliminary estimate for the deep geological repository of nuclear waste, then we are well beyond $300 billion.

Three hundred billion is an almost unthinkable amount of money. For most of us it’s hard to get a sense of what those funds could achieve.

Some examples:
• Provide every dwelling in Ontario with a free $20,000 heat pump and a free $20,000 rooftop solar system
• Replace half of the passenger vehicles in Ontario with a free electric vehicle
• Replace transit fares in Toronto for the next 300 years
• Provide every farm in Ontario with a free 10 kilowatt wind turbine
• Replace all the school buses in Ontario with new electric ones

Expensive nuclear plants produce expensive electricity and those costs are paid for through our taxes and electricity bills. It is already the case that nuclear is one of the most expensive energy options available. The Ontario Clean Air Alliance, using data from the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) and Lazard, has reported that the mid-point cost of new nuclear will be 24.4 cents per kilowatt-hour compared to solar with storage at 10 cents per kilowatt-hour.

There is a global energy transition underway. Renewable power generation capacity is expected to rise from 4,250 GW today to nearly 10,000 GW in 2030 – short of the tripling target set at COP28 but more than enough, in aggregate, to cover the growth in global electricity demand.

The Ford government is clearly on the wrong energy pathway.

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David Robertson is a climate activist with Seniors for Climate Action Now. Excerpted with permission from the original at www.canadiandimension.com

December 11, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics