Aecon wins $3bn in contracts for Pickering nuclear refurbishment
Aecon Group has secured contracts worth an aggregate $3 billion from Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to refurbish the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station east of Toronto. The TSX-listed construction group holds a $1.75 billion share of the awards, which will be added to its Construction segment backlog in the third quarter of 2026. Project execution is expected to begin in January 2027, pending regulatory approval from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.
The contracts cover two distinct scopes. A 50/50 joint venture between Aecon and engineering firm AtkinsRéalis has been awarded a $1.7 billion contract for the Unit 5 Retube, Feeder and Boiler Replacement (RFBR) programme, which involves swapping out steam generators, fuel channels and feeders to extend the unit's operational life. A separate consortium between Aecon and Siemens Energy, in which Aecon holds a majority interest, has been awarded a $1.3 billion Turbine Generator Replacement (TGR) contract covering the installation of 14 new steam turbine rotors, overhaul of four generators and the delivery of updated auxiliary and control systems.
The Unit 5 RFBR award represents the first of four planned units; similar work on Units 6, 7 and 8 is anticipated in subsequent phases, subject to regulatory clearance. Prerequisite work on both contracts is described as nearing completion, with further preparatory activity expected to begin immediately.
Market context
The Pickering refurbishment sits within a broader Canadian nuclear renaissance. Canada operates the CANDU reactor fleet, a pressurised heavy-water design whose periodic refurbishment extends operational life by several decades and is cheaper per megawatt-hour than new-build generation. The economics are compelling for a province like Ontario, where electricity demand is rising sharply as industrial electrification accelerates and the government has set an aggressive clean-power target.
Aecon has positioned itself as the dominant nuclear construction group in Canada. It played a lead role in the Darlington Refurbishment, which Aecon says was completed ahead of schedule and under budget, and is participating in the Bruce Power Major Component Replacement programme. The group is also part of the team building the Darlington New Nuclear Project, described as the G7's first commercial grid-scale small modular reactor (SMR). SMRs are factory-built fission units rated typically below 300 MW, designed to be deployed faster and at lower capital cost than conventional large-scale reactors.
Policy and capital context
Ontario's appetite for firm, dispatchable, emissions-free generation is shaped by the province's Industrial Conservation Initiative and a provincial electricity plan that explicitly relies on nuclear refurbishments to hold the grid together during the retirement of gas peakers. Federally, Canada's Clean Electricity Regulations and the 2024 Clean Electricity Investment Tax Credit, which offers a 15 percent refundable credit on qualifying clean-power projects, improve the economics of nuclear life-extension relative to gas-fired alternatives.
Jean-Louis Servranckx, chief executive of Aecon, described the contract awards as "another significant milestone in Ontario's clean energy future," pointing to the company's track record delivering large nuclear projects across North America. The Pickering station, when fully refurbished, is expected to provide reliable low-carbon baseload capacity into the 2050s, at a point when Ontario's grid will need to absorb substantially higher electrification load from transport and industry.
Investors tracking Aecon will focus on two near-term signals: the receipt of full regulatory approval to begin execution in January 2027, and OPG's decision on whether to proceed with Units 6, 7 and 8 under comparable contract structures. Together those phases could represent several additional billions in backlog for the Aecon-AtkinsRéalis joint venture.