By: John Chilibeck, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. Source: The Daily Gleaner October 28, 2025

René Legacy, New Brunswick’s energy minister, talks about the benefits of a new support services agreement for the province’s nuclear plant, as Stephen Lecce, his Ontario counterpart, NB Power executive Darren Murphy and Laurentis CEO Leslie McWilliams listen. Photo: John Chilibeck, Brunswick News

NB Power and a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation have signed a three-year, $75 million deal to improve the performance of the troubled Point Lepreau nuclear power plant.

The deal includes bonuses of up to $8 million if the plant near Saint John can hit certain targets, such as producing electricity 90%  of the time.

The energy ministers of New Brunswick and Ontario made the announcement Friday in Fredericton, formalizing a partnership between the public utility and the subsidiary Laurentis Energy Partners that was forged a few years ago.

The idea is to improve Point Lepreau from being one of North America’s worst nuclear performers to a facility closer to the industry standard. Under the support services agreement, Ontario will provide expertise and operational support, gleaned from its much bigger operations.

“In nuclear, the reality is this,” René Legacy, the local energy minister, told reporters at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton.

“It is not New Brunswick versus Ontario. 
We are competing with the U.S. We are competing with Great Britain. We were in London, England, a few weeks back. 
Rolls Royce is their technology. They’re investing heavily as a full country. We in Canada have to hold together to do exactly that.”

$1 billion overbudget

Point Lepreau is considered NB Power’s workhorse, providing about one-third of New Brunswick electricity when it is running smoothly. The problem is it has been out of commission many times since an expensive refurbishment in 2012 went $1 billion overbudget.

NB Power CEO Lori Clark has said the job was half done, with only the nuclear side of the plant being overhauled, and not the aging non-nuclear side, which is now falling into disrepair.

Last year, for instance, Point Lepreau was down for eight months, most of it unplanned, to fix the station’s main generator. It is under a scheduled 140-day maintenance shutdown which, according to NB Power spokesperson Elizabeth Fraser, is “on track for a return to service in early December as planned.”

The high debt tied to Point Lepreau has also raised the ire of critics. NB Power has a very high debt for its size, $5.8 billion. Due to the public utility’s financial problems, its 393,000 customers have swallowed rate increases of 24 per cent over the last three years.

NB Power is seeking a fourth successive increase next April of 4.75 per cent and also plans to hike rates 6.5 per cent in each of the two years after that.

Huge Ontario plant

Ontario Energy and Mines Minister Stephen Lecce told reporters his province had shown it is a global leader in the nuclear industry, home to three nuclear plants and 19 reactors. Point Lepreau is the only operating nuclear plant in Canada outside of Ontario.

Ontario plans on adding a 10,000-megawatt plant, the biggest nuclear facility in the world.

“In Ontario, we’re doing something different and no nation on Earth can say. Not the French, not the Brits,” Lecce said.

“We are building on time, and we are building on budget. 
We have established credibility globally. The world is watching us, and we have refurbished our entire fleet. Unit 1 of Darlington was just returned to the grid 180 days ahead of schedule and under budget. You cannot find an example in the world where a nuclear reactor was refurbished at that scale ahead of schedule.”

He said he was proud to lend expertise to Point Lepreau, “to ensure affordability is delivered in this community, and we continue to really lean into the Candu technology that has been blessing for Canada.”

But nuclear opponents balked. Moe Quereshi, the climate advisor at the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, predicted the $75 million or more in spending on the agreement would raise customers’ rates even higher.

“We have better options available that are cheaper and more accessible, such as wind and solar energy, that we could build within a year. It wouldn’t take years to fix and years to build, such as new reactors. Just from an affordability perspective, we could have a lot more for $75 million.”

This story from Brunswick News was written by Local Journalism Initiative Reporter John Chilibeck.