Ontario's 4,800-Megawatt Darlington Addition Obtains Site Preparation License

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Canada's nuclear regulator has cleared the first site preparation license for nuclear reactors to be issued in Canada in 25 years. The license has been granted to a Darlington, Ontario, project that is adjacent to an existing 3,512-megawatt (MW) nuclear plant.

In June this year, two contractors signed service agreements with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) (Toronto, Ontario) to prepare detailed construction plans, schedules and cost estimates for the proposed two reactors at the Darlington site. SNC Lavalin (TSX:SNC) (Montreal, Quebec) and subsidiary Candu Energy, as well as Westinghouse Incorporated (Monroeville, Pennsylvania), are working on the plans, which must be completed within 12 months, for the respective Candu 6 and AP 1000 reactors. The existing units now in operation at Darlington are powered by four Candu reactors.

The proposed plan is to add four generating units with a combined output of 4,800 MW. The plan is part of Ontario's $33 billion scheme to phase out coal-fired power generation.

The final report will be submitted to the government of Ontario, which will make the final decisions on whether to move forward with the project. The site preparation license issued to OPG will be valid for 10 years until August 17, 2022. It covers pre-construction activities, such as clearing, excavating and grading the land adjacent to the existing power plant.

A joint review panel of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission specially convened in 2009 made the decision to issue the nuclear site preparation license after considering the environmental assessment. The central government had already accepted the panel's report.

The panel chairman, Alan Graham, said the licensing decision was an important milestone in Canada's nuclear history. "The decision was reached in an open and transparent manner with the input of hundreds of citizens, whose thoughts and arguments inspired and challenged us to make the best possible decision."

Information was presented at a 17-day public hearing in 2011. Submissions came from 264 intervenors, 14 government departments and OPG. All reports in the course of the project will be available to the public. These will include a mid-term report on the implementation of the environmental assessment and a report on compliance activities.

There also will be opportunities for public comment on the construction license decision and the final application for an operating license.

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