Utility Bruce Power is planning to expand its nuclear plant in Kincardine, Ontario in what would create the world’s largest atomic energy facility.
The Government of Ontario said that Bruce Power is preparing to add as much as 4.8 gigawatts of capacity to its plant on the shores of Lake Huron in Canada’s most populated province.
The plant’s eight reactors currently have about 6.2 gigawatts of nuclear capacity and supply 30% of Ontario’s power needs.
The expansion would make the site larger than Japan’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, which is listed as the biggest in the world with more than eight gigawatts of nuclear energy generation.
The Bruce Power announcement comes amid growing recognition that nuclear power is likely to play an important role in lessening the impacts of climate change.
The federal government in Ottawa is reportedly developing plans to mandate a net-zero power grid by 2035 and sees nuclear energy as playing a key role in achieving that goal.
Another utility, Ontario Power Generation, is also developing a new type of advanced nuclear reactor to help lessen Canada’s reliance on fossil fuels.
