Reactor contract likely delayed

Toronto Star
23 May 2009
Robert Benzie

Next month's deadline for selecting the company to build Ontario's new nuclear reactors will likely be delayed, admits Energy Minister George Smitherman.

The Liberal government had promised to announce by June 21 which firm, federally owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., France's Areva SA, or U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric Co., would be awarded a contract expected to exceed $20 billion.

But Smitherman, who had originally pledged to reveal the winner by the end of last year, only to put it off by another six months, said yesterday Ontarians might have to wait even longer.

Stressing that the deadline was "self-imposed," he played down concerns the province is dragging its feet on a project that will take a decade to complete.

"It's a really, really big decision and, accordingly, if it takes us a little longer to get all of our necessary due diligence done ... then I'll be clear with people to say, 'it's going to take a little longer,' " the minister said.

"It continues to be our work plan, so I don't have a new date to offer to you. I'm not going to be in the country on that date," said Smitherman, who will be attending the World Wind Energy Conference in Jeju Island, South Korea, at the time.

"We have a very, very ambitious work plan and we're still working toward a timetable like that, but it's not a drop-dead date. It's not contractual."

The Ontario government announced in June 2006 that it planned to build a two-reactor nuclear plant that can supply between 2,000 and 3,500 megawatts of power to the grid.

Despite having had three years to examine the pros and cons of the competing technologies, Smitherman defended the delays.

"From the standpoint of a decision like that, which is what you kind of view as a 30- or 40-year decision, I'm not going to apologize if I have to say to people that's going to take me another month or two," he said.

The minister also emphasized that the fix is not in for AECL, even though the company built Ontario's existing nuclear fleet.

"We have a long-term relationship with AECL. We've been their biggest client over time," he said.

"What we're analyzing is proposals that came in from three different companies and the capabilities of the companies and the capability especially of the technology that they're offering."

Smitherman said AECL's problems with its aging NRU reactor in Chalk River, which could be out of service for months, wreaking havoc on the world supply of isotopes used in medical imaging, would have no impact on Ontario's eventual decision.