Reliable, Emissions-Free Electricity
Reliable, Emissions-Free Electricity
Nuclear energy works day and night, at all times of the year. Fifteen times more efficient than renewable sources, it is the primary source of electricity for 15% of Canadians and 60% of Ontarians.
The Canadian nuclear industry continues to innovate with new technologies to support existing operations and to power even greater possibilities in the decades to come, such as achieving Net Zero by 2050.
Ontario nuclear facilities produce enough electricity to power millions of homes.
OPG Pickering supplies enough energy to meet the demands of 2.2M homes per year
OPG Darlington supplies enough energy to meet the demands of 2.7M homes per year
The Restart of all four units at the Bruce Power Bruce A facility helped Ontario Power Generation successfully phase out coal in Ontario, resulting in the largest single greenhouse gas reduction in North America.
In Canada alone, nuclear power helps avoid 80 million tonnes of carbon emissions per year – equivalent to removing 15 million cars from the road.
The smaller land-use footprint and longevity of nuclear stations mean that nuclear power has among the lowest lifecycle carbon footprints of any clean energy source.
Energy density is the secret to nuclear energy’s environmental benefits. The electricity from a typical 1,000-megawatt nuclear power station, which would supply the needs of over a million people, produces only three cubic metres of used fuel per year. In contrast, a 1,000-megawatt coal-fired power station produces approximately 300,000 tonnes of ash and more than six million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year. In fact, all the used nuclear fuel produced in Canada since the 1960s would fit into one hockey rink stacked up to 30 feet.
— Seamus O’Regan
As one of the world’s most successful climate-change reduction initiatives over the last decade, our phase-out of coal-fired electricity in Ontario minimized pollution and reduced smog days to next to zero. With clean nuclear energy, Ontarians can breathe easy.
The coal phase-out resulted in significant health benefits to Ontario: