Ontario to add more nuclear muscle to energy mix by Staff Writers Ottawa (AFP) March 7, 2008 Canada's Ontario province announced Friday plans to build its first new nuclear reactor in decades to meet its burgeoning energy needs and reduce its carbon emissions.

Four companies -- France's Areva, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), US-Japanese partnership GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and US-based Westinghouse Electric Company -- have been shortlisted and will be invited to bid on the project, said Ontario Energy Minister Gerry Phillips.

Construction would begin within the next decade.

"Building replacement nuclear facilities ... will help Ontario meet its future energy needs, keep prices stable, cut our carbon footprint and reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Phillips said in a statement.

The province, which aims to eliminate its coal-fired generation by the end of 2014, currently has 16 reactors operating at three nuclear power plant sites near Toronto, Canada's economic hub. All of them were built in the 1970s and 1980s.

Two aging reactors were taken out of service in 2005, deemed too costly to upgrade. Two other units are now being refurbished.

Ontario's total nuclear generation capacity is now 14,000 megawatts, and energy officials said they hope to maintain it at this level while conserving 6,300 megawatts and doubling renewable energy to 15,700 megawatts by 2025.

Additional gas-fired generation stations will also be added for use in peak periods of power usage.