Port Hope community pushes back against plans for massive new nuclear plant

Earlier this year the Ontario government unveiled a proposal to construct a nuclear power plant near Port Hope, a community of roughly 18,000 residents located about 100 kilometres east of Toronto. The plan, promoted by Ontario Power Generation, promises up to 10,000 megawatts of capacity, more than any existing Canadian reactor, and the creation of over 10,500 jobs, while the province’s energy minister called it a step toward a secure energy future.

However, the town’s history of a 1930s radium refinery that later refined uranium for the Manhattan Project has left a legacy of low-level radioactive waste scattered in backyards, schools and public spaces, prompting a multibillion-dollar cleanup that is still in progress. Community activists such as 75-year-old Faye More and other residents argue the new plant would compound past harms and treat the town as expendable, despite assurances from officials that modern regulatory frameworks are far stricter.

The mayor, Olena Hankivsky, and experts from McMaster University emphasize that the ongoing remediation and the proposed plant are distinct projects governed by different timelines and regulations. Nonetheless, locals continue to organize petitions, seek legal avenues, and demand greater transparency as the province moves toward licensing the project in the 2030s.