Darlington Nuclear Generating Station

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Darlington Nuclear Generating Station is a Canadian nuclear power station located on the north shore of Lake Ontario in Clarington, Ontario. The facility derives its name from the Township of Darlington, the former name of the municipality in which it is located. It is arguably one of the most advanced nuclear generating stations in the world.

The facility was constructed in stages between 1981-1993 by the provincial Crown corporation, Ontario Hydro. In April 1999 Ontario Hydro was split into 5 component Crown corporations with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) taking over all electrical generating stations and which continues to operate the Darlington station.

The Darlington station is a large nuclear facility and comprises 4 CANDU nuclear reactors located on the northern shore of Lake Ontario, having a total output of 3524 MW (capacity net) and 3740 MW (gross net) when all units are online.

To most Ontarians, the Darlington station is associated with the massive cost overruns incurred during its construction. The initial cost estimate for the station was $2.5 billion CAD, while the final cost was $14.4 billion CAD. Discussion of who is to blame for the costs and subsequent debts associated with Darlingtion often arise during provincial election campaigns, and are often mentioned in anti-nuclear literature.[1]

There has recently been speculation that two new reactors may be built on the Darlington site.[2] On September 22, 2006 OPG formally started the federal approvals process with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) by filing an application for a Site Preparation Licence for new nuclear units at its Darlington Nuclear site.[3]

The reactors are as follows:

DARLINGTON