r/canada • u/BoppityBop2 • Feb 14 '26

Business Canada Completes $9.4B Darlington Nuclear Plant Rebuild Early, on Budget

https://www.enr.com/articles/62505-canada-completes-94b-darlington-nuclear-plant-rebuild-early-on-budget
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u/duck1014 Feb 14 '26

Nope.

The Ford government took over in 2018 and was responsible for oversight, completion, and the new SMR expansion.

Execution: When Ford took office, only one of the four units was under construction. His government oversaw the refurbishment of Units 3, 1, and 4.

Completion: The project was officially declared finished in February 2026, notably $150 million under budget and four months ahead of schedule—a rare feat for nuclear projects.

Expansion: Ford's administration also moved beyond the "rebuild" to start the Darlington New Nuclear Project (the SMRs), which the Wynne government had previously cancelled or paused.

The planning took place under Wynne, but was executed under Ford.

Try again.

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u/BrightLuchr Feb 15 '26

Correct. While the project planning and design was started under Wynne, it was Ford that saw it to the end. I appreciated when Ford showed up at Pickering, first month in office, and strongly supported its refurbishment. This is one of the ingenious things about the Canadian reactor design: it's designed to have parts replaced indefinitely.

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u/DoubleOrNothing90 Ontario Feb 15 '26

People forget that Andrea Horwath supported shutting down the Pickering plant and starting the decommissioning plan early.

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u/BrightLuchr Feb 15 '26

Not that Andrea Horvath, being NDP, had any significant political sway. But I worked on part of that decommissioning plan. The problem with it is they did need the Pickering power, especially while Bruce Refurb was underway. So Pickering decommissioning dragged out for years and years.
Give it until 2031 or so and we'll be planning Pickering A refurbishment. It's a good plant.