Contract worth €1.4 billion signed for early engineering and procurement
The Ontario government has approved Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) plan to proceed with the project definition phase, the next step towards refurbishing four units at the Pickering nuclear power station to secure more power and create thousands of jobs across the province.
As part of the preparation for refurbishment, the government said it has authorised OPG to sign a CAD2.1bn ($1.46bn, €1.4bn) contract with CanAtom, a joint venture of Aecon and AtkinsRéalis, for early engineering and procurement to prepare for the execution of the retube feeder and boiler replacement programme.
Once refurbished, Pickering would produce more than 2,000 MW of electricity, equivalent to powering two million homes, to help meet increasing demand, driven by electrification and the province’s surging economic growth.
Based on OPG’s preliminary schedule, the refurbishment is anticipated to be completed by the mid-2030s.
The Conference Board of Canada, an independent research organisation, projects the full refurbishment project would create 11,000 jobs per year while contributing CAD19.4bn to Ontario’s GDP over 11 years.
OPG is planning to refurbish Units 5, 6, 7 and 8 at Pickering, the only plants remaining in operation at the facility. The move marks a major turnaround for the station, which was scheduled to close by 2025.
Units 2 and 3 were permanently shut down in 2007 and 2008 and Units 1 and 4 were taken offline in 2024.
