In 1986, the Zenith Space Command television offered a 20-inch colour screen, a mechanical remote control and a wooden cabinet large enough to occupy a substantial chunk of your living room.
It was state-of-the-art technology when the “newer” reactors at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station came online. Now, four decades later, the Ford government plans to spend $26.8 billion rebuilding them.
These reactors are old. Very old. But in Doug Ford’s Ontario, everything old is new again. The government is preparing to pour billions into outdated reactors while renewables plus storage are sweeping the world.
It is the energy equivalent of rebuilding your 1986 Ford Taurus because you are not ready to switch to an electric vehicle.
A Costly Bet on the Past
Unfortunately, Pickering has been about as reliable as an aging Taurus, with a long history of shutdowns, accidents and underwhelming performance.
Previous Pickering reactor rebuilds have also gone massively over budget:
- Unit 4 was projected to cost $457 million. The actual cost was 2.7 times higher at $1.25 billion.
- Unit 1 was projected to cost $213 million. The actual cost was 4.8 times higher at $1.016 billion.
Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and the Ford government insist they have learned their lesson and everything will be different this time. But all we have to do is look at the supposedly “completed” refurbishment of the Darlington reactors to see that this is not true. Despite the government spin, the Darlington refurbishment is already more than $3.3 billion over budget and six years late.
New Brunswick’s Point Lepreau nuclear station, a similar vintage and same technology as Pickering, is among the worst performing nuclear stations in the world post refurbishment. It is offline again this week.
Meanwhile, OPG’s forecast cost for its Pickering refurbishment project ($26.8 billion) is more than double the original cost estimate for its Darlington refurbishment project ($12.8 bilion), despite the fact that the Pickering refurbishment is one-third smaller (2000 vs. 3500 MW).
But the real issue with rebuilding these old reactors is the economic risk for Ontario. Wind, solar and storage can provide power at less than half the cost of electricity from new nuclear projects. Sadly, Ontario has sat on its hand for eight years when it comes to securing ever cheaper renewable power.
It finally took a small step earlier this year and signed contracts for thirteen wind and solar projects that will provide power for the very low price of 8.9 cents per kWh – again, massively less than the cost of rebuilding Pickering.
But instead of getting the message that renewable energy and storage is the kind of power we need to drive economic success, the Ford government is still stuck in the Space Command TV era.
We will all pay for their nostalgia with higher electricity prices, a less reliable power system, and a costly losing bet on the wrong technology.
Tell Premier Ford and Ontario’s opposition leaders to triple renewables and build the affordable, reliable electricity system Ontario needs for the future.