Ottawa is going nuclear in a big way, putting almost $1 billion into building a new reactor at Darlington, near Toronto.
It’s the federal financing facility’s first foray into nuclear, one of its biggest investments since the bank began operations four years ago — and meant to signal a turning point.The infrastructure bank, funded by $35 billion in federal contributions, has been so slow to ramp up that a federal committee recommended last year that the facility be completely scrapped.
The Darlington investment announced Tuesday became possible because of signals in the last federal budget, Cory said. That’s when the government tweaked the mandate for the infrastructure bank to orient it more aggressively towards net-zero projects, and specifically recognized nuclear as a viable investment.
The federal loan is as beneficial for the project’s finances as it is for the project’s politics, she suggested. These days, however, there’s a growing realization that cutting emissions fast enough to reach net zero by 2050 will require nuclear power as well as lots of natural gas as a transition fuel.. Its planned phaseout of nuclear plants has just been delayed as it faces a shortage of energy following Russian gas cuts.