Ontario has lit the fuse on Canada’s nuclear renaissance. Shovels will soon hit the ground as Ontario builds Canada’s small modular reactor (SMR) at Darlington, positioning the province to help lead the G7 into a cleaner energy future.
Once built, the Darlington SMR will supply Ontario with cheap, plentiful, and accessible electricity to help the province keep up with its explosive growth in population. As the appetite for cleaner energy solutions grows across Canada, more nuclear power is exactly what is needed right now.
However, while Ontario moves forward into the future, British Columbia is languishing in the past. Ontario is hardly alone in its pursuit of expanding nuclear power. From coast to coast, the provinces are embracing it as a part of their power grids.
By clinging to an outdated 2010 ban on nuclear reactors and uranium mining, BC is isolating itself from the Canadian nuclear future.
Ontario’s first SMR is set to power 300,000 homes by 2030. Make no mistake, this is real leadership. The economic impact alone is staggering, with $38.5 billion projected to be added to Ontario’s GDP, while making possible 18,000 jobs. These are numbers too big to ignore.
In addition to securing the future, Ontario is carving out a place for itself in the global market for emerging nuclear technologies. Jobs, growth, stability, innovation, and competitiveness all stem from being part of this new horizon, and there is no good reason for BC to exclude itself.
In Alberta, the Peace River Nuclear Project is a proposal for up to four CANDU reactors, each of which, if built, will generate 4,800 megawatts of clean baseload power for decades. Alberta is demonstrating that it understands that the future is not about pitting the environment against the economy, but integrating them both together.
Next door in Saskatchewan, the world’s second-largest producer of uranium, Estevan’s Boundary Dam and Rafferty Reservoir have been flagged as sites for potential SMRs. The proposed projects will build on existing infrastructure and draw on the expertise from the local workforce.
Together, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick have all formalized partnerships with each other and industry to turn Canada into a global leader in SMR technology. Nova Scotia, too, has introduced legislation to end its longtime ban on uranium exploration.
Meanwhile, BC refuses to even take a second look at its 15-year-old ban on nuclear energy. BC Hydro has a great legacy of supplying cheap, plentiful power, but it is no longer sufficient.
Drought and shrinking annual snowpacks have greatly deteriorated the capacity of the province’s hydroelectric dams, forcing the province to import 25 percent of its energy at a cost of $1.4 billion. Not only is the status quo for BC’s energy grid short-sighted, it has become outright unsustainable.
Even worse for BC is that it will be cut off from energy diversification, which is required for future stability. SMRs are cost-effective, safe, relatively portable, and scalable sources of energy that would be tailor-made for the mountainous geography of BC.
BC is trapped in a dependency mindset. For example, Haida Gwaii is still reliant on heavy, high-emitting diesel power, which directly contradicts the provincial government’s drive to be environmental leaders. Refusing to amend the Clean Energy Act is to dismiss the opportunity to enable innovation, especially in northern Indigenous communities, where SMRs offer ownership and long-term, sustainable benefits and energy security.
Both Ontario and Saskatchewan have made sure to include Indigenous participation in their nuclear plans. True reconciliation is not possible without economic inclusion. The Canadian nuclear renaissance is as much a nation-building project as it is about creating stable energy grids.
Anti-nuclear stereotypes are not a plan, and behaving as if they are will cost BC dearly. It denies citizens access to reliable, affordable, and clean power, while forcing BC to lag behind the rest of the country.
