Ontario Heritage Trust unveils provincial plaque to commemorate the Douglas Point Nuclear Power Plant

The Douglas Point Nuclear Power Plant first entered full commercial operation in 1968 and continued to supply electrical power to the Ontario grid until it was retired in 1984. At the end of the Second World War, Canada had the only nuclear reactor outside the United States, as well as the world's second-largest nuclear infrastructure. The most significant contribution to the Canadian nuclear industry was the transfer of technology from Douglas Point's commercial-scale prototype to Ontario Hydro's first two industrial reactors at Pickering, each of which had more than double the capacity of Douglas Point.

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) intended the Douglas Point nuclear station to be a prototype, and it is as a prototype that the plant facilitated the growth of Canada's peacetime nuclear industry, and as a prototype that the plant has historical significance.

"The Douglas Point Nuclear Power Plant showed the world a viable model for an economic source of long-term electrical power," said The Honourable Lincoln M. Alexander, Chairman of the Ontario Heritage Trust. "The lessons learned at Douglas Point facilitated the evolution of nuclear reactor stations to come."

Douglas Point was the first reactor designed from the start as a large-scale CANDU system reactor. The advances made in cost efficiency, design and computer data processing at Douglas Point were invaluable lessons that would later pave the way for the Pickering 'A' reactor station and others to follow.

"Douglas Point was a site of major innovation, and the progress made there propelled other nuclear stations in Ontario. Pickering became the first nuclear power plant in the world with full computer control, which is now a feature in all CANDU plants in Canada and abroad," said Ontario Minister of Culture Caroline Di Cocco. "The station is an important part of the community and our province's heritage."

The descendants of Douglas Point - the commercial nuclear power plants at Pickering, Darlington and Bruce Peninsula - now supply over 50 per cent of Ontario's power.

"The Douglas Point nuclear station made a vital contribution toward building the energy self-reliance and economic prosperity of Ontario," said Dan Meneley, president of the Canadian Nuclear Society. "The Society's members are pleased to see this historical landmark recognized by the Ontario Heritage Trust."

This unveiling is part of the Trust's Provincial Plaque Program that commemorates significant people, places and events in Ontario's history. Since 1953, nearly 1,200 provincial plaques have been unveiled.