Business View Magazine | November 2020

277 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2020 MUNI C I PAL I TY OF CLAR INGTON, ONTAR IO One major project underway is the $12.8 billion refurbishment of the Darlington Nuclear facility. Darlington provides about 20 percent of Ontario’s electricity, so the major overhaul of its four reactors is taking place one at a time, while the other three reactors are running. That means 2,000 extra people showing up for work every day, above and beyond those running the plant, and a significant rise in residential development. Three-term Mayor, Adrian Foster, is a passionate voice for all things Clarington. Business View Magazine recently spoke with the Mayor and Sheila Hall, Executive Director of the Clarington Board of Trade and Office of Economic Development, about recent goings on in the Municipality (there are many!) and the exciting plans for future growth in all sectors. The following is an edited transcript of that conversation. BVM: Can you share an update on recent projects and happenings of note? Mayor Foster: “We’re still working on a lot of projects that were in progress a year ago, and that we’re still excited about. One of those big stories is the nuclear refurbishment program – they are moving to the second reactor now; with that second unit, they’ll be building the potential for medical isotypes. Canada is responsible for providing half of the medical isotypes around the world through its CANDU reactors. Obviously, it is making a huge impact on the community and the Canadian nuclear industry as a whole. “Clarington has the only site currently licensed for nuclear new-build. OPG (Ontario Power Generation) here is deeply involved in the SMR (small modular reactor) file. You can, potentially, build a reactor in a factory and double the input, and get it dropped at a different location. In the past, the focus has been on giant reactors. With an SMR, instead of stringing thousands of miles of lines to a remote northern location, you put the generation capacity right there. SMRs are the future of nuclear. So, we’re quite excited about Darlington Nuclear Facility