Nuclear power means backing yesterday’s horse while sacrific

[Oscar]

Nuclear power means backing yesterday’s horse while sacrificing yesterday's horse

May 13, 2026 - Ralph Torrie - Special to The Globe and Mail

EXCERPT: "And yet, nuclear’s historical inertia carries it forward. The federal government has explicitly framed nuclear as a strategic investment priority – supporting it through financial support and tax credits. When capital costs are underwritten, tax credits provided and project risks backstopped, projects become easier to promote to mayors and chambers of commerce as a source of jobs and regional development, even when their economics are weak.

Long construction timelines make them especially lucrative for financiers: Interest during construction can account for 30 per cent or more of total project cost. Taxpayers take the risk, ratepayers inherit the cost and the system is locked into a technology increasingly misaligned with the direction of the grid. Electric prices increase unnecessarily just when low rates are needed to accelerate electrification.

The Bay’s delivery horse stable committed capital to yesterday’s system even while its replacement was overtaking it. That is the risk with new nuclear today. To keep reaching for the nuclear option is to choose the past over the future – and risks weakening Canada’s position in the emerging 21st-century economy."

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