Four Pickering Reactors Go Offline as $26.8B Refurbishment Sequence Begins
Four reactors at Pickering Nuclear Generating Station began coming offline this week, marking the start of a $26.8 billion refurbishment effort, according to a Canadian Press report via Daily Commercial News.
Market Impact
The actual refurbishment work on the four units is scheduled to start in January, with the project expected to take the reactors out of service for roughly a decade. Ontario Power Generation says the work will extend the plant’s operating life by up to 38 years and preserve enough capacity to power 2.2 million homes. The scope includes replacing 1,520 fuel channels and 48 boilers, plus construction of a 1.5-kilometre deep-water intake structure.
Ontario Energy Minister Stephen Lecce said the project will support 30,500 jobs, with most of the spending staying within the province. The refurbishment push comes as Premier Doug Ford’s government leans on nuclear to meet growing electricity demand. Environmental Defence has raised concerns that pulling the units offline for most of the next decade could deepen Ontario’s reliance on natural gas generation and increase greenhouse gas emissions in the interim, per the report.
This offline start follows the previously reported $1.7 billion contract awarded to a Candu Energy-Aecon joint venture for the separate Unit 5 refurbishment package, signed the same week the four units began shutting down.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- Fuel channel replacement crews and boiler specialists should expect mobilization windows starting in January 2026 as the four units move from shutdown into active refurbishment scope.
- The 1.5-kilometre deep-water intake build points to upcoming marine construction, heavy civil, and underwater welding subcontract packages that have not yet been publicly awarded beyond the Unit 5 deal.
- Electrical and instrumentation contractors tied to boiler replacement across the 48 boilers should track OPG and Candu-Aecon procurement announcements, since Unit 5 was awarded separately at $1.7 billion and additional unit-specific packages are likely to follow the same pattern.
- With Lecce citing 30,500 supported jobs, trades including pipefitting, scaffolding, and mechanical insulation should watch for regional hiring and subcontractor registration calls tied to the broader decade-long refurbishment sequence, not just the already-awarded Unit 5 scope.
- Firms bidding into this work should confirm which packages remain open versus already committed. Unit 5’s contract is signed and binding; the other three units’ subcontract packages appear not yet publicly awarded as of this report.
