Ontario Investing $1 Billion to Build Small Modular Reactors at Darlington

October 23, 2025

As Ontario continues to navigate tariffs and global volatility, it’s never been more important to create a more competitive, more resilient and self-reliant province that can withstand whatever comes our way.

Ontario’s SMRs will create 18,000 jobs during construction with 3,700 jobs during operation, while contributing $38.5 billion to Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over 65 years.

Construction on the first SMR began in May 2025, with the SMR expected to come online in 2030.

Today’s funding will support the construction and operation of the first SMR with an innovative model to allow for additional private sector and Indigenous investment.

Today’s investment to support the first SMRs in the G7 is a down payment on Ontario’s nuclear energy future.

Our government has worked with Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to ensure that 80 per cent of project spending goes to Ontario companies, including steel produced in Ontario by Ontario steelworkers, and that construction and operations will protect workers and jobs by sustaining an estimated 3,700 highly skilled, good-paying jobs annually.

This brings the total investment into this nation-building project to $3 billion, helping reinforce Ontario’s robust nuclear supply chain for decades to come.

In addition to the Darlington New Nuclear Project and refurbishments at the Darlington and Pickering nuclear generating stations and Bruce Power, Ontario is exploring multiple new nuclear energy generation projects to build for the future.