Thunder Bay ON – Business News Service – Ontario has awarded nearly $66 million in contracts to two Eastern Ontario companies for work on the first small modular reactor at the Darlington New Nuclear Project.
The province said Gillam Construction Group of Carp will receive a contract worth almost $35 million to build the project administration building. It estimated that work will create 100 jobs.
Mansteel Rebar of Pembroke will receive $31 million to fabricate, supply and install reinforcing steel for five core buildings. The province said the contract supports 100 existing jobs and will add 20 jobs during construction.
The awards extend the nuclear construction supply chain beyond the Darlington site in Clarington, east of Toronto. They also show how the project is being broken into building, steel, equipment and services packages that can reach contractors across Ontario.
That matters for Northern Ontario construction and mining service firms because many of the same trades and capabilities are used in heavy industrial work: structural steel, concrete, quality assurance, project controls, electrical systems and remote logistics. No Northern Ontario contract was announced Monday, however, and future opportunities should not be assumed until procurement notices or awards are issued.
Ontario Power Generation is building a 300-megawatt BWRX-300 reactor at its existing Darlington site. Ontario describes it as the first commercial, grid-scale small modular reactor in the G7.
The independent Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission issued OPG a construction licence for one reactor in April 2025. The licence is valid to March 31, 2035 and includes regulatory hold points that must be cleared before specified construction work can continue.
The commission removed the first hold point, covering installation of the reactor-building foundation, on March 30, 2026 after verifying that OPG had met the required commitments.
OPG applied in March for a 20-year licence to operate one reactor and an associated low- and intermediate-level waste storage structure. The commission says that application still requires a decision after a public hearing. The hearing date has not been announced.
The operating licence process is separate from the construction contracts announced Monday. Awarding the contracts does not decide the operating application.
OPG estimates the first reactor will cost $6.1 billion, plus $1.6 billion for systems and services common to a planned four-unit site. Its published estimate for all four units is $20.9 billion. Construction of later units remains subject to future approvals.
The province has been announcing batches of Ontario suppliers tied to the project. Editors should distinguish signed or awarded work from broader economic-impact projections: job and gross domestic product figures for a four-reactor build are forecasts, not completed outcomes.
The next regulatory milestone with direct public oversight is the CNSC’s operating-licence hearing. Until a date and process are announced, its timing remains uncertain.
Source notes
- Ontario contract announcement – provincial release dated Nov. 9, 2026; verified by 5:48 a.m. ET Nov. 10
- CNSC Darlington project status – regulator project page checked Nov. 10, 2026, before 5:48 a.m. ET
- OPG Darlington SMR project page – project cost and construction information checked Nov. 10, 2026, before 5:48 a.m. ET
