Canada’s nuclear energy output ranked 6th in the world
Canadian nuclear regulator Source:Canadian Nuclear Energy Association photo.
Pickering Nuclear Generating Station will operate until 2024, then be decommissioned
In 2016, Canada produced 3.9 per cent of the world’s total nuclear energy output, according to a National Energy Board press release.
This ranked Canada 6th in the world behind the United States, France, China, Russia, and South Korea.
The vast majority of Canadian nuclear energy is produced in Ontario, which alone accounted for more than 3.7 per cent of global nuclear output and ranked higher than entire countries such as Germany and the United Kingdom.
Nuclear is Ontario’s primary source of electricity. Currently, 56 per cent of Ontario’s electricity generation is sourced from Ontario’s nuclear facilities, which are home to three of Canada’s four nuclear power plants and 18 of Canada’s 19 commercial nuclear reactors.
Bruce Power’s 6400-megawatt facility in Kincardine, Ontario, is the largest operating facility in the world and has a total generating capacity greater than India’s 22 nuclear power reactors combined.
Due to this large base in Ontario, nuclear power currently comprises 15 per cent of Canada’s total electricity generation.
The only other Canadian nuclear plant and commercial power reactor outside of Ontario is New Brunswick’s Point Lepreau Generating Station.
Quebec’s Gentilly-2 nuclear facility was shut down in 2012 in the face of high refurbishment costs, and there are currently no new nuclear energy projects underway in Canada.
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As other types of energy gain capacity and nuclear capacity remains relatively constant, nuclear power’s share of Canadian electricity generation is expected to fall in the coming decades.
Reactors at Darlington and Bruce will be taken offline intermittently over the next couple of decades as the facilities undergo necessary refurbishments to extend the life of the reactors.
Pickering Nuclear Generating Station will continue to operate until 2024, at which time it will be decommissioned.
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