Statement by Mike Marcolongo, Associate Director, Environmental Defence
Toronto | Traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat – The Ontario government’s decision today to approve a $26.8-billion refurbishment of Pickering Nuclear Generating Station Units 5–8 is a costly and high-risk choice that will push electricity bills higher, increase pollution, and sideline the clean-energy solutions Ontario urgently needs.
Nuclear power already dominates Ontario’s grid today and, under the government’s plan, would expand to 75 per cent of all electricity generation by 2050. Because nuclear is inflexible and cannot ramp up or down with demand, the entire system must be engineered around it, limiting its ability to integrate wind and solar. This design leaves Ontario relying more on fossil gas plants to balance the grid, driving up both emissions and costs.
Committing to refurbish Pickering—already one of the oldest nuclear stations in North America—adds more risk to an already risky strategy. And because Pickering’s reactors will be offline for most of the next decade before returning to service in the mid-2030s, the government plans to burn significantly more gas in the meantime—driving electricity-sector emissions from a near-zero low of 2.5 megatonnes to 20 megatonnes by 2030, wiping out most of the gains Ontario made in phasing out coal.
The government claims the refurbishment will create nearly 37,000 jobs, but this does not change the fundamental reality: nuclear is one of the most expensive sources of electricity. Wind and solar are now the lowest-cost sources of new power worldwide, including here in Ontario. Meanwhile, nuclear remains a key driver of the recent 29 per cent increase in electricity rates. The government is masking the true cost by shifting expenses onto the tax base—but taxpayers and ratepayers are the same people, and they will ultimately cover the bill.
At the same time, Ontario is planning for fewer renewables in 2050 than we will have in the 2030s. This flies in the face of global trends, where clean energy is being deployed at record scale because it is affordable, flexible, and fast to build. Pairing wind and solar with hydro power and battery storage has become the backbone of clean-energy systems worldwide—yet Ontario’s nuclear-heavy strategy sidelines these solutions for decades.
Ontario does not need to choose a pathway that locks in higher costs and higher emissions. There is still time to shift course toward a modern electricity system that prioritizes renewables, energy efficiency, storage, and reliability—without saddling Ontarians with decades of unnecessary nuclear expansion and increased gas burning.
ABOUT ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE (environmentaldefence.ca): Environmental Defence is a leading Canadian environmental advocacy organization that works with government, industry and individuals to defend clean water, a safe climate and healthy communities.
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For more information or to request an interview, please contact:
Tamara Latinovic, Environmental Defence, media@environmentaldefence.ca
