Ontario reactor bid deadline extended
28 July 2008
[The Canadian Press, 26 July] Ontario's energy minister, George Smitherman, has announced that the deadline for reactor vendors to submit bids for two new reactors at the existing Darlington site has been extended. In June, the provincial government asked Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL), Westinghouse and Areva to submit bids by 1 October. However, the deadline has now been extended until the end of 2008. Smitherson said: "Because of the complicated nature of the transaction, there deemed to be warranted some additional time to work our way through those details so that we can continue to ensure proponents who will be bidding in a competitive way." He added that the extension was the result of a consensus request among the companies and the team overseeing the reactor procurement. The Canadian province hopes to have the new reactors operating at Darlington by 2018 as part of its $26 billion nuclear program. Smitherson replaced Gerry Phillips as energy minister last month following a cabinet reshuffle by Premier Dalton McGuinty.