Antonella Artuso
Ottawa Sun
June 13, 2006

Toronto: An Ottawa-area site will be among locations considered for new nuclear reactors as the government embarks on a multi-billion-dollar strategy to tackle a potential electricity shortage, sources say.

Energy Minister Dwight Duncan will approve the Ontario Power Authority’s December recommendation that roughly half the province’s electricity should be powered by nuclear reactors 20 years from now – the same share nuclear holds today.

The Liberals won’t tell the OPA where they think plants should be built.

However, they will direct the agency to identify which of up to a half-dozen sites should be nominated for environmental assessments, sources say.

Deep river area

The list of potential sites includes Rolphton, near Deep River; Pickering and Darlington; and Tiverton, home to Bruce Power’s reactors.

Nanticoke in southwestern Ontario, the site of North America’s biggest coal-burning plant, and Wesleyville, east of Darlington, are also under consideration.

"It’s conceivable they might try a trial balloon in the Ottawa area, too," said Tom Adams, of watchdog group Energy Probe.

The OPA report calls for $72 billion in new electricity generation, including up to $40 million in new nuclear power, to avoid shortages by 2013.

Achieving this will require refurbishments of existing reactors.

At least one new plant with twin reactors is being considered, sources say.

Premier Dalton McGuinty has essentially acknowledged new nukes will be in the mix.

"We’ll look to solar, we’ll look to conservation, we’ll look to whatever sources of renewables we can, but at the end of the day that is not enough," McGuinty said.

"And if we’re going to be responsible about this, if we’re going to ensure that the international investment community understands that we will in fact (have a) reliable source of electricity, we’ve got to take these things on."

The solution that is aggressively being pursued in competitive electricity markets – so-called clean coal – is not even on the table in Ontario.

Six noted environmental groups lined up yesterday behind a plan that would see coal and nuclear power phased out in favour of more conservation and renewables.

Shawn-Patrick Stensil of Greenpeace said nuclear power has proven unreliable and overpriced, and any attempt to build a new nuclear plant would be contested.

"It might be trench warfare for 10 years, but we’re prepared to do that," Stensil said.