New nuclear plant could open near Toronto as population and electricity demand skyrockets

As one nuclear power plant in Southern Ontario slowly winds down operations, another may be cropping up in the near future.

The provincial government has been eyeing lands in Port Hope — a little more than an hour east of downtown Toronto — for a new nuclear facility to be helmed by Ontario Power Generation (OPG).

The generating station would be built on OPG’s existing Wesleyville site, which has been defunct for some 45 years, but very much primed to turn into something new.

“In the late 1970s, OPG’s predecessor company, Ontario Hydro, began building the oil-fired station before the 1979 oil shock and a recession brought a halt to construction. In the ensuing decades, OPG has taken great care of the site to ensure it is ready to go in the event Ontario needs to build a new power source,” the Crown corporation explains of the lakefront property.

OPG and the Province cite a surging demand for electricity as the key factor behind the push to revive the property for nuclear uses, with electricity needs set to soar by a whopping 75 per cent by 2050 in light of our ever-expanding population.

Officials say that with this in mind, exploring the options for Wesleyville are part of the “early engagement and development work” they are currently doing to “ensure the province has options to meet growing demand.”

If stakeholders move forward with these early ideas, the plant could end up being the largest of its kind in Canada, and even the world, producing 10,000 megawatts (MW) of power — enough for some 10 million homes. It would have an estimated life of 95 years, and provide more than 10,000 jobs.

The Municipality of Port Hope passed a motion in December to “support continued dialogue and engagement with OPG, the Ministry of Energy and Electrification and local stakeholders to explore the development of clean energy generation projects at the Wesleyville site.”

In the item, council acknowledged the project’s “potential benefits to the community, including job creation, economic development, increased tax revenues and investment in infrastructure.”

Unfortunately, the idea of nuclear hasn’t been entirely welcomed with open arms by the people of Ontario, who in 2021 pushed back against a facility coming to Darlington.

A year before that, a false emergency alert about the nearby Pickering Nuclear Generating Station was accidentally issued across the province in 2020, creating quite the scare and prompting many to order iodine tablets, which can protect the thyroid against radioactive damage.