N.B. gets support from Ontario to repair, improve operations at Point Lepreau nuclear facility

Ontario and New Brunswick have signed a deal to work together on nuclear energy for three years.

New Brunswick is looking to Ontario to help get the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station operating consistently as energy security becomes more critical for the province.

The two provinces signed a support services agreement through their power utilities that will see nuclear engineers and experts from Laurentis Energy Partners – a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation – work out of Point Lepreau over the next three years.

The agreement is worth $25 million each year, with room for up to $8 million in bonuses should the agreement result in measurable improvements. The agreement will be in place April 1.

The goal is to see Point Lepreau operating at 90 per cent by 2029, only shutting down for scheduled maintenance every other year.

The nuclear plant is currently offline. New Brunswick Power said they’re working on a phased refurbishment approach with scheduled shutdowns over the next year. NB Power’s Chief Financial Officer said the shutdown is on schedule and operating on budget. It should be back online in December.

“I think based on our history we’ve got likely three kinds of stages of this agreement to go through,” said Darren Murphy. “As we know, unfortunately, our performance has been challenged. So, stabilize performance, one, accelerate performance, two, sustained performance, three.”

When Point Lepreau is offline, it costs the utility $1 million-to-$1.5 million a day because the utility has to find and pay for replacement power and repairs to the nuclear plant.

The station was only operating 27 per cent of the time during the 2024-25 fiscal year.

New Brunswick and Ontario are the only provinces in Canada that have nuclear plants.

Ontario’s Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce said their nuclear track record is strong. The province is moving forward to develop small modular reactors, the only country in the G7 to do so.

“Through the leadership of OPG (Ontario Power Generation), we’ve been refurbishing our entire nuclear fleet,” he said. “We’re talking about every nuclear generator in Ontario. Pickering, Darlington and Bruce has been done on time and on budget. In fact, in Darlington’s case, we returned it to unit ahead of schedule.”

Lecce said 80 per cent of the builds employ Canadians and use Canadian uranium and technology including the unique heavy water natural uranium reactor system known as CANDU.

Despite issues at Point Lepreau, N.B. Energy and Finance Minister René Legacy said his government isn’t ruling out an expansion on the site.

“We do have future expansion plans on nuclear,” he said. “We believe that one of the biggest assets that we have right now is Point Lepreau as a nuclear ready site for expansion. It’s one of the only sites in North America.”

During a technical briefing with reporters on Oct. 1, power utility executives said Lepreau needs $253 million in upgrades over the coming year, including critical motor and valve replacements. The utility has already spent $565 million on upgrades to the nuclear generating station over the last three years.

Ontario is building four small modular reactors at its Darlington site. Lecce said the project will create 18,000 construction jobs.

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