Two Oakville manufacturers named among suppliers to Ontario's first small modular reactor at Darlington
Promation has a $3.9 million contract for a control rod drive platform and Hooper Welding a $1.7 million contract to supply steel for structural modules, the Province said on November 6, naming 12 GTHA companies supplying the Darlington New Nuclear Project.
In this story
The details
What was announced
Ontario's Ministry of Energy and Mines said on November 6, 2026 that 14 contracts had been awarded to companies in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area to build the first small modular reactor at Ontario Power Generation's Darlington New Nuclear Project. The Province's backgrounder names 12 companies. Two of them are based in Oakville.
Promation, which the backgrounder lists as Oakville-based, has a $3.9 million contract to provide a Fine Motion Control Rod Drive platform, and the Province says the work creates four new jobs. Hooper Welding, also listed as based in Oakville, has a $1.7 million contract to supply steel for the Diaphragm Plate Steel Composite modules used to build the plant. The Province says that contract supports jobs but gives no number.
- $3.9 million; a Fine Motion Control Rod Drive platform; four new jobs
- $1.7 million; steel for Diaphragm Plate Steel Composite structural modules; job count not given
- 14 contracts, which the Province says add more than $110 million to Ontario's GDP
- Clyde Union Canada (Celeros Flow Technology), Burlington: $300,000 for a pump and pump motor
What the companies said
The Province's release singles out Hooper Welding's steel as an example of the project opening markets for sectors under pressure from U.S. tariffs. In a quote carried in the release, Promation president Darryl Spector called the Province's decision to invest in the reactor "destiny defining for companies like Promation" and said being an early supplier to the BWRX-300 design being built at Darlington gives the company a path to work on later builds. Chris Hooper, vice-president of Hooper Welding Enterprises, said in the release that the Province's and OPG's leadership gives Ontario businesses the confidence to invest, and that for his company that includes a new dedicated nuclear manufacturing bay in Hamilton.
The project
Ontario Power Generation's Darlington New Nuclear Project is planned as four small modular reactors. The Province says the four units would deliver 1,200 megawatts, which it equates to about 1.2 million homes, and that it has worked with OPG so that 80 per cent of project spending goes to Ontario companies. The Province approved construction of the first unit in 2025; the backgrounder says the 2.1-million-pound reactor basement has been placed and work on the reactor and turbine buildings is progressing.
Beyond Mr. Hooper's reference to the Hamilton bay, neither provincial document says where the contract work will be done, how long the contracts run or when deliveries are due. OakvilleIQ will report those details if the companies or OPG publish them.