Canada - World Nuclear Outlook Report

Under the Canadian constitution, electricity generation, transmission, and distribution falls primarily under the jurisdiction of the provinces.⁵⁵ Two provinces currently use nuclear power, with 17 reactors with a total capacity of 12.7 GWe operating over three sites in Ontario and one reactor in Point Lepreau in New Brunswick.

In February 2023 the Canadian government launched the ‘Enabling Small Modular Reactors Program’, providing C$29.6 million (about $22 million) in support for the development and deployment of SMRs. Under the programme, applicants can request up to C$5 million for R&D projects, with the programme providing up to 75% of the total project costs, or up to 100% for projects led by indigenous applicants.

In May 2024, the provincial governments of Alberta and Saskatchewan signed a memorandum of understanding to advance the development of nuclear power generation by 2050.⁵⁶

In June 2025, the Ontario government released its Energy for Generations energy roadmap, which noted that, according to the Independent Electricity System Operator, the province could need up to 17.8 GWe of new nuclear generation to meet rising demand in a high electrification scenario.⁵⁷ Achieving the capacity target in this scenario would require building at minimum the equivalent of eight large nuclear units or 8000 MWe (in addition to the four units already planned at Bruce C) and potential operating lifetime extension of Bruce 1&2.

In January 2024 Canada became the first country to include nuclear power finance in green bonds. The government’s green bond financing programme – which previously excluded nuclear energy from obtaining financial support – was revised to explicitly permit “the deployment of nuclear energy to generate electricity and/or heat.”⁵⁸

Long-term operation

Extensive refurbishment programmes are being carried out to extend the operation of reactors at all four sites (Bruce, Darlington and Pickering in Ontario, and Point Lepreau in New Brunswick). Refurbishment at the Bruce plant began in 2020 for unit 6. Upon completion, the plant is expected to remain in operation until approximately 2064.⁵⁹

At Darlington the programme to refurbish all four units began in 2016. Refurbishment of units 1-3 has been completed, with refurbishment of unit 4 scheduled to be completed by 2026. The work should extend operation by up to 30 years and involves replacing fuel channels, upgrading ancillary systems and the turbine generators.⁶⁰

Pickering 1&4 were permanently shut down in 2024. Refurbishment of units 5-8 is expected to be completed by the mid-2030s.⁶¹ 

Point Lepreau was the first Candu-6 reactor to undergo refurbishment, starting in 2008. The licence for Point Lepreau was renewed in 2022 for an additional 10 years and the unit is expected to continue to run for several decades, with a possible second refurbishment in the early 2040s.⁶²

New capacity

Large-scale reactors

In February 2024 the Ontario government committed to providing C$50 million ($37 million) of funding to support pre-development work to study the feasibility of building up to 4800 MWe of new generating capacity at the Bruce site.⁶³ 

Electricity demand from data centres has also raised interest in the Peace River Nuclear Power Project in Alberta that would consist of four Candu Monark reactors capable of supplying up to 4800 MWe.⁶⁴

Small-scale reactors

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has had a pre-licensing vendor design review process since 2018 – for about ten small reactors with a wide range of capacities up to 300 MWe.

In addition, the CNSC and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have had agreements since 2017 to cooperate in reviewing advanced reactor and small modular reactor technologies.

As part of a memorandum of cooperation between the CNSC and NRC from 2019 the two regulators carried out a joint review of Terrestrial Energy’s postulated initiating events analysis and methodology for the Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR). In 2022 the two regulators agreed to cooperate on regulatory and safety issues in the licensing review of the BWRX-300 design.

A March 2022 report prepared by the governments of Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Alberta, A Strategic Plan for the Deployment of Small Modular Reactors⁶⁵, proposed a three-stream approach to SMR deployment:

• A grid-scale SMR project of 300 MWe constructed at the Darlington nuclear site in Ontario by 2028. Subsequent units in Saskatchewan would follow, with the first SMR projected to be in service in 2034.
• Two advanced SMRs that would be developed in New Brunswick. ARC Clean Energy was targeting operation at the Point Lepreau nuclear site by 2029, and Moltex Energy would have both its spent fuel recovery system and reactor in operation by the early 2030s, also at the Point Lepreau site.
• A new class of microreactors designed primarily to replace the use of diesel generators in remote communities and mines. A 5 MWe gas-cooled demonstration project is under way at Chalk River, Ontario.

According to ARC it has “completed phase one of the vendor design review with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and is nearing completion of phase two which will be followed by full licensing of the first ARC-100, targeted in the early 2030s.”⁶⁶

In August 2024 all environmental assessment and licensing activities for the 5 MWe Chalk River demonstration project were put on hold.⁶⁷

Ontario

In December 2021, OPG announced the selection of GE Hitachi’s BWRX-300 for the Darlington SMR project. In July 2023 the Ontario government announced it was working with OPG to begin planning and licensing for three additional BWRX-300 reactors, for a total of four, at the Darlington plant site.⁶⁸ The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission issued a construction licence for the first BWRX-300 at the Darlington SMR project in April 2025. In July 2025 EDF subsidiary Arabelle Solutions announced it would supply turbine island equipment for the unit. The first of the four planned units is expected to start up by 2030.⁶⁹

New Brunswick

New Brunswick’s government has committed to having 600 MWe of new nuclear generation as part of plans to achieve net-zero emissions in its electricity sector by 2035.⁷⁰ The province’s first SMR is planned to be in operation by 2030 at Point Lepreau.⁷¹ The provincial government is partnering with ARC Clean Energy Canada, which is developing the ARC-100, a 100 MWe advanced sodium-cooled fast reactor.^72,73

In May 2024 a collaboration agreement was signed between Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, ARC Clean Technology and New Brunswick Power with the goal of establishing teaming agreements for global small modular reactor fleet deployment.⁷⁴

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan does not have nuclear power reactors, and around three-quarters of electricity is generated from fossil fuels. Government-owned SaskPower has selected the BWRX-300 for potential deployment, and intends to make a commercial decision by 2029 on whether to build an SMR, for deployment in the mid-2030s.⁷⁵

Alberta

For Alberta, SMRs could help reduce emissions from large industrial facilities, which are the largest source of emissions in the province. In July 2025 Premier Danielle Smith announced public consultations on integrating nuclear power into Alberta’s energy mix.⁷⁶ Small modular reactors could power remote, energy-intensive sites like oil sands operations.

A partnership between OPG and Capital Power, an Alberta-based wholesale power generator, is exploring the regulatory and permitting processes needed to deploy an SMR in Alberta. Capital Power President CEO, Avik Dey, said that the company is looking at deploying a 300 MWe SMR for baseload generation around 2035.⁷⁷