In an effort to revive a nuclear energy program that has been marred by billions of dollars in debt, cost overruns and disappointing performance, the province of Ontario on Tuesday announced a plan to spend about 20 billion Canadian dollars ($18 billion) to build reactors and refurbish some current units. The plan also includes about 20 billion Canadian dollars for renewable energy projects and 6 billion Canadian dollars ($5.3 billion) for power conservation.

"We have had a very bad financial history with nuclear power," the provinces energy minister, Dwight Duncan, said in an interview after announcing the plan, which will take about 20 years to complete. "The challenge now is that we must manage these projects properly and share the risk with potential suppliers."

Some reactor makers saw the plan as a major step toward revitalizing their industry in North America. A decade has passed since the last new reactor was switched on. "This is extremely important for the nuclear industry," said Patrick Lamarre, the chief executive of SNC-Lavalin Nuclear. "This is something weve been waiting for for many years."

Vaughan Gilbert, a spokesman for Westinghouse Nuclear, which is based in Monroeville, Pa., and owned by BNFL of Britain, said, "Weve been gearing up for this even though the market for new plants in North America had dried up." If completed as envisioned, the plan will maintain the current level of nuclear-generated power, which provides about half of Ontarios electricity. The other half is provided mainly by hydro-electric dams and coal.

Ontario already encounters electrical shortages, particularly during hot summer days. Cost overruns and time delays that occurred during previous attempts to refurbish reactors have made the government shy about pursuing that route again. As a result, 3 of Ontarios 19 reactors are not in use.

A Conservative government that preceded Mr. Duncan and the Liberals restructured the provinces government-owned electrical system as a prelude to privatization. But a variety of problems, including a political scandal tied to utility executives salaries, meant that the province never saw a major influx of privately owned power-generating companies.

Those issues recently forced Mr. Duncan to back away from a campaign pledge to close by 2009 the coal-fired generating stations. Exactly how many reactors the province will build is unclear. The project will initially involve at least two units at a cost of about 2 billion Canadian dollars each. But that number is expected to rise after an analysis by the government-owned Ontario Power Generation on the feasibility and cost effectiveness of renewing current stations.

In the past, Ontario always bought reactors from Atomic Energy of Canada, or A.E.C.L., which is owned by the Canadian government and based in Mississauga, Ontario. That may not be the case this time. "Our preference is to use Canadian technology," Mr. Duncan said. "But the important thing is to get the right deal."

Westinghouse has already expressed interest in bidding, and Susan Hess, the manager of strategic marketing for Areva NP — which is owned by Areva of France and Siemens of Germany — said her company was interested in both building and refitting plants. In anticipation of making a bid, A.E.C.L. has created a joint venture with SNC-Lavalin Nuclear and the Canadian branches of General Electric, Babcock and Wilcox and Hitachi. Mr. Lamarre said the group would propose to build the reactors at a fixed price and with penalties for late delivery.

Mark Winfield, the director of environmental governance at the Pembina Institute for Appropriate Development, predicted that the province would only experience further financial grief by recommitting to nuclear generation. "Its a very strange approach and a very high-risk one as well," he said. Mr. Winfield said he was skeptical that nuclear power generation would succeed financially this time around, and said the government was underestimating the full potential of energy conservation.
(Por Ian Austen, New York Times, 14/06/2006)