As Port Hope, Ontario, undergoes one of Canada's largest radioactive waste cleanups, residents are now confronting a proposal for a new station that could become the world's largest nuclear power plant.
The province views the idea as a boost to power supply and economic growth. Many people in town, though, see it through the lens of a history they do not want repeated.
Here's what to know
According to CityNews, Ontario-owned Ontario Power Generation wants to pursue a new nuclear project in Port Hope's Wesleyville area.
If the full project is built, it could produce up to 10,000 megawatts of electricity, topping Bruce Power's eight-reactor station, which generates about 6,500 megawatts.
Supporters at Queen's Park have presented the proposal as a gain for both the grid and the economy. Energy Minister Stephen Lecce called it "another positive step" toward a secure energy future, and Ontario Power Generation spokesperson Neal Kelly said the plant could support more than 10,500 jobs and add about $235 billion to Ontario's GDP over its lifetime.
In Port Hope, that pitch runs into long memories of radioactive contamination.
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"I personally was outraged when I heard this announcement," said Faye More, a 75-year-old resident helping organize opposition to the project.
Mayor Olena Hankivsky has said the proposed facility should be treated separately from the town's decadeslong cleanup, arguing that any new plant would be built under "today's world-leading standards from the outset."
More background
The town's connection to the nuclear industry began in the 1930s, when Eldorado opened a radium refinery there.
By the 1940s, growing demand for uranium had changed the plant's role: it refined material that ultimately aided U.S. military efforts, including the Manhattan Project.
The contamination that followed spread into both public spaces and private property. Radioactive soil, stone, and building materials were used beneath homes, roads, parks, and schools, and Port Hope now stands among Canada's most contaminated communities for low-level radioactive waste, with most of that historic material found there and in nearby Clarington, all according to CityNews.
Bill Daly, director of communications for the Port Hope Area Initiative, said testing has covered about 5,000 sites, with contamination detected at roughly 1,200. He added that close to 3.3 million tons (3 million metric tons) of waste material have already been moved to a long-term storage facility, while hundreds of private properties have been remediated.
What's being done?
The proposed plant is still in the early stages of the review process.
Hankivsky said a "comprehensive" assessment is examining environmental, health, social, and economic effects, as well as potential impacts on Indigenous peoples.
Ontario Power Generation has said the modern nuclear industry operates under "one of the world's most rigorous regulatory frameworks." Chris Malcolmson, acting health physics director at McMaster University, said the risks associated with Port Hope's low-level waste are "extremely low" and that the benefits of the new plant "far outweigh" its potential safety risks.
Still, residents opposed to the proposal are organizing their own response.
More said her group plans to keep raising awareness and lobbying the government. She also sent a petition to Canada's auditor general seeking protection under the upcoming National Strategy Respecting Environmental Racism and Environmental Justice.
Others are focusing on neighborhood-level outreach. Sarah Sculthorpe, whose property borders the selected site, has been speaking with residents and politicians as she works to slow momentum behind the project.
To opponents, the fight is about much more than electricity output or projected employment.
"For me it's a very emotional battle," Sculthorpe said.
More said the community is being "treated like (it's) expendable" by the government. She continued, "But the people here have been exploited and they have borne the price of this and we say no more."
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