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By Glenn Hendry
Published November 14, 2025 at 2:45 pm
A Montreal-based construction giant with more than a decade in the nuclear industry has earned an engineering contract from Hydro One to enable grid connection for the four small modular reactors under construction at the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station.
AtkinsRéalis Group, the former SNC-Lavalin, will engineer an expansion of the Bowmanville Switching Station to connect the grid to the SMRs at Darlington.
“Delivering nation-building energy projects in Canada and around the world has been a hallmark of our work in the Power & Renewables sector for decades,” said AtkinsRéalis CEO Ian Edwards. “Our sector has been involved in marquee projects globally, supported by our centre of excellence in Canada. AtkinsRéalis is perfectly suited to deliver work on this substation, which is a critical link in supplying electricity from the Darlington New Nuclear Project to the people of southern Ontario, including Toronto.”
AtkinsRéalis, an engineering services and nuclear company with nearly 10,000 employees and offices around the world, got into the nuclear sector in 2011 when it bought the commercial reactor division of Atomic Energy of Canada from the federal government for $15 million and spun off the Mississauga-based Candu Energy subsidiary.
The company funded the purchase with the sale of some of its assets in Highway 407 the same year. AtkinsRéalis sold the remaining 6.76 per cent share this spring for $2.79 billion.
AtkinsRéalis will provide engineering, as well as project and program management services to Hydro One for the Darlington project. The engineering work will support the establishment of a new 500 kV switchyard next to the existing substation site – doubling its capacity and expanding the site by an anticipated 30-40 acres.
The expansion is planned for completion prior to all four SMRs coming online.
In addition to the installation of the new switchyard, the project will consist of the installation of new breakers, disconnect switches and all supporting equipment. The site is also being planned to contain a new multi-purpose building to house control, protection, telecommunication and auxiliary equipment. New line entrance structures will enable the interconnection of high voltage transmission lines to evacuate the power generated into the Hydro One power grid.
“Transmission and distribution infrastructure is one of the backbones of Ontario’s significant electricity build-out program and requires sustained expansion,” said AtkinsRéalis President Stéphanie Vaillancourt. “Building on our extensive national portfolio of transmission and distribution work, this mandate exemplifies how we win and deliver work with our differentiated end-to-end capabilities, while strengthening our relationship with Hydro One.”
AtkinsRéalis has several other electrical power projects on the go, including an owner’s engineer role on the Champlain Hudson Power Express project – a 545 kilometre buried cable transmission line carrying 1,250 MW of clean power from Quebec to New York City; engineering and design services for the Projet Mauricie green hydrogen hub in Quebec – one of the largest clean hydrogen projects in Canada, producing up to 70,000 tonnes per year; and project management (including engineering, integrated procurement, and construction management) for the refurbishment of Rio Tinto’s Isle-Maligne hydropower plant in Alma, Quebec.
Darlington SMR new nuclear project
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