Wall Street Journal today has opinion piece about Canada’s decision to revamp its largest nuclear plant to provide low carbon energy. Article notes that Quebec has lots of hydropower but drought can reduce production.
The nuclear waste disposal problem is not mentioned. A Google search turned this one up:
As of now Canada stores its spent nuclear waste in pools near its heavy water nuclear plants–not unlike temp storage in the US. They plan to build an underground storage facility and have been reviewing sites since 2010. Two sites in Ontario are the front runners but still need approval from the neighbors.
That’s important, but not particularly relevant most of the time. Canada likes to produce lots of cheap extra power and sell it to the USA. It’s one of their big (not that big, but still) exports.
The Canadian regional power utility Ontario Power Generation (OPG) plans to invest CAD1bn (US$730m) to refurbish up to five hydropower plants with a combined capacity of 1,700 MW in Niagara Falls (Ontario), which currently meet around 9% of the province’s electricity needs. The refurbishment programme, which should enable to supply renewable power for an additional 30 years, will be led in partnership with GE Vernova and will start in 2025 for a 15-year period; at the Sir Adam Beck I and II hydropower plants (446 MW and 1,499 MW), up to 25 units will be upgraded, adding 50 MW in capacity. Moreover, OPG is considering developing future plans for its 23 MW DeCew I and 144 MW DeCew II hydropower plants.
At the end of 2023, OPG operated 66 hydropower plants with a combined capacity of more than 7.6 GW in Ontario, which generated 34 TWh in 2023. The company also plans to refurbish four units at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station (2 GW) with an investment of CAD1.5bn (US$1.1bn).
In 2022, hydropower accounted for 53% of Canada’s installed capacity and 61% of its total power generation (58% in 2023).
