The TBM that will help build Canada’s first small modular reactor has arrived in Ontario.
The 6.97m-diameter TBM Harriet Brooks will bore a 3.4km-long condenser cooling water tunnel for Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington New Nuclear Project.
TBM Harriet Brookes, named after Canada’s first nuclear physicist, arrived at the Port of Oshawa and was transported to the Darlington nuclear site in 15 lorry loads. She is due to be assembled early next year.
The Ontario government is working with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) on the C$20.9bn project which will deliver four small modular grid-scale reactors (SMR).
The first facility, which will also be North America’s first commercial, grid-scale SMR, will be operational by 2030.
Work on the project began in autumn 2022, with the installation of utilities, including fire lines, water lines, sanitary sewer lines, and network cabling. Construction on a few important buildings, including the on-site fabrication building, is also under way.
The four SMRs are designed to meet Ontario’s electricity demands, which are rising for the first time since 2005. The Independent Electricity System Operator has forecast that the province could need to more than double its electricity generation in less than 30 years.
Nuclear power currently provides about 50% of Ontario’s electricity supply.
“A fleet of SMRs at the Darlington New Nuclear Site is key to meeting growing electricity demands and net zero goals,” said Ken Hartwick, OPG president and CEO. “OPG has proven its large nuclear project expertise through the on-time, on budget Darlington Refurbishment project. By taking a similar approach to building a fleet of SMRs, we will deliver cost and schedule savings, and power 1.2 million homes from this site by the mid-2030s.”
