About a year ago, Carlo DiPietro's company Elettra Technology Inc. was faced with a fairly big problem.

Bruce Power officials asked the company if it was interested in a job inspecting, refurbishing and reassembling one of its giant pump motors. Put together, it weighs about 100,000 pounds and is about 12- by 8-feet large.

But Elettra had nowhere to work on the thing. So it rented out space in the old Westinghouse plant on Burlington Street and moved it down to the city on flatbed trucks in pieces. It was an ironic twist, given the company's roots lay in Westinghouse's demise.

So it is that the province's plans to invest in nuclear have pumped energy into the hopes of the Golden Horseshoe's nuclear energy researchers, business owners and economy.

Ontario plans to spend up to $40 billion building two nuclear reactors and refurbishing up to half a dozen others during the next two decades.

That's just under half of the value of the province's auto parts, assembly and export industries combined.

Energy Minister Dwight Duncan has said such investment is necessary to meet demand.

"We estimate that in order to meet the looming supply-demand gap, an investment of $25 (billion) to $40 billion will likely be required to keep the lights on over the next 15 years," he said in a speech to the Empire Club in Toronto in 2004. "This is one of the largest peacetime investments in Canadian history."

For the 20 or so businesses serving the nuclear industry in Hamilton, Burlington and Niagara, that's one heck of a shot in the arm.

It will also boost the research and development already underway at McMaster University.

Earlier this month, the province issued a request for proposals for twin nuclear reactors to four shortlisted companies. A decision is expected by the end of this year.

In the meantime, the multibillion-dollar refurbishment of two of Bruce Power's units is already up and running.

Worldwide, nuclear power plants are being built while older plants are coming up for refurbishment.

Gordon Hadaller is president of Stern Laboratories on Burlington Street East, one of only a few thermonuclear dynamic testing laboratories in the world. He said a few years ago staff scrambled to dig up business; now they're scrambling to get work done.

Back at Elettra, the motor contract from Bruce Power may be the biggest, but it isn't the only project tied to the industry.

DiPietro, Elettra's president, said it's figured into the company's plans for expansion in the next year or two.

The drivers behind the nuclear renaissance are the high cost of oil, increasing concern over greenhouse gases and the rising demand for electricity.

There are critics, however, who say investing in nuclear is expensive and misguided. Greenpeace and provincial NDP Leader Howard Hampton are among them.

Hampton says the price of nuclear is too high, pointing to the Darlington station. The initial cost estimate for Darlington was $5 billion, while the final cost was $14.4 billion (at a time when interest rates were incredibly high). The plant now supplies 17 per cent of Ontario's electrical energy.

This spring, the refurbishment project at Bruce Power originally pegged at $2.75 billion was reforecasted to cost $3 billion. That will mean another $150 million for Ontario residents along with a lease agreement Hampton said amounts to a massive subsidy.

"The province has put all of its eggs in the nuclear basket and it is very, very expensive," he said.

"We're going to be paying for (new nuclear projects) for decades."

He points to cheaper alternatives such as co-generation for industry, better wind projects and a renewed focus on energy conservation.

The province's decision to open up the bidding process for its new nuclear plants to foreign-owned companies is also under fire.

It's accompanied by pressure on the government to award the contract to federally subsidized Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL), maker of Canada's Candu reactor.

There are about 43 Candus worldwide, with 18 in Canada (16 in Ontario) among about 439 reactors in use around the world.

Yesterday, AECL withdrew from the competition for a new reactor design in Britain. AECL's CEO Hugh MacDiarmid said the company "is focusing its marketing and licensing resources for the advanced Candu reactor on the immediate needs of the Canadian domestic marketplace."

"We continue to actively pursue opportunities for our Candu 6 product in several international markets," AECL stated.

Martyn Wash, executive director of the Organization of Candu Industries, said if AECL fails to win the contract from the Ontario government, it will be a blow to the domestic Canadian nuclear energy industry.

"We hope the government will see the economic impact in choosing Candu," Wash said.

"(Choosing other technology) would put a dent in our export opportunities. If the government does choose Candu, we can capture 10 per cent of the international market. If they don't choose our homegrown technology, it would definitely make a lot of problems for us because if we can't choose our own technology at home, why would someone else?"

Tom Murad, president of Blenkhorn & Sawle, an instrumentation and manufacturing firm in St. Catharines, said Ontario companies will be seeking assurances that jobs and suppliers will come from Ontario, if a foreign contractor is selected.

"We are looking for some kind of protection to give companies like ourselves a portion of the pie."

The province has stipulated in its request for proposal s that the winning bid must also provide economic benefits to Ontario.

David Novog, an associate nuclear engineering professor at McMaster, said one of his students once said the Candu was "as Canadian as Tim Hortons."

Novog said McMaster and Hamilton are recognized from Beijing to Washington, D.C., for nuclear science and technology.

He said there is a sizable community of nuclear energy professionals, many of whom are experts in Candu technology. "The Canadian workforce has been able thus far to adapt and develop ingenious solutions to technological problems."

Murad said there is more at stake than just economic benefits when it comes to picking the Candu. He says it will also stop the brain drain.

"The problem we have in this part of the world is that guys don't have enough work. People either leave from this corridor of Hamilton-Niagara or go west."

Hadaller said Stern Laboratories is committed to Hamilton, but it's a bit lonely behind the echoing plants on Burlington Street.

"It would be nice to have company."

With files from The Canadian Press

lmarr@thespec.com

905-526-3992

Ontario's power supply mix

March 2008

Source Megawatts

Nuclear * 14,000

Hydro 7,795

Coal 6,434

Oil and gas 5,103

Conservation 1,350

Wind 501

Other renewables 92

* Baseload source of energy: needed for a constant source while hydro, coal and others are needed for peak demand.

Nuke primer

CANDU

Nuclear energy is produced by a controlled nuclear chain reaction using uranium fuel and creates heat which is used in some reactors to boil water, produce steam and drive a steam turbine. The turbine can be used for mechanical work and also to generate electricity. A variety of technologies are used to generate electricity using nuclear technology. For example, GE employs the boiled water process used in 90 plants around the globe. The CANDU is a Canadian nuclear power generation technology developed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), a Crown corporation. CANDU nuclear power plants use deuterium oxide (heavy water) as the moderator and coolant and natural uranium (as opposed to enriched uranium) as fuel. Uranium is abundantly available in Canada, the world's largest producer of the element. There are 43 CANDU plants worldwide.

Power players

Hamilton

ELETTRA TECHNOLOGY INC.

What they do: Custom design of motors to various industries. Also services Westinghouse motors.

No. of employees: 45

FALLON ULTRASONICS INC.

What they do: Develop ultrasonic technology, build industrial testing systems to locate defects and measure dimensions with high accuracy.

No. of employees: three to 20

STERN LABORATORIES

What they do: Reliability and safety experiments under contract to utilities, nuclear reactor and fuel vendors, government agencies and nuclear equipment suppliers. Manufactures specialized equipment.

No. of employees: 55

Halton

BPR ENGINEERING INC.

What they do: Engineering, consulting.

No. of employees: 1,850

BIW CABLE SYSTEMS

What they do: Manufacture electrical wire and cable.

No. of employees: 50

COMSTOCK CANADA LTD.

(now owned by Emcor)

What they do: Construction

No. of employees: 3,000

DRESSER FLOW SOLUTIONS

What they do: Manufacture pipe fittings, valve, engineering services.

No. of employees: five

HENRY CONTROLS

What they do: Distribute nuclear power services.

No. of employees: two

LAKER ENERGY PRODUCTS

What they do: Make and service parts for the CANDU reactor.

No. of employees: 18

MARSH INSTRUMENTATION

What they do: Instrumentation and services for a myriad of industries.

No. of employees: 30+

NORMAC ADHESIVE PRODUCTS

What they do: Manufacture polyurethane coatings, adhesives.

No. of employees: eight

Niagara

BLENKHORN & SAWLE

What they do: Instrumentation and controls, service, supply custom work.

No. of employees: 55

ENERGY SOLUTIONS

What they do: Management consultation services.

No. of employees: three

E.S. FOX

What they do: Construction, engineering. Manufacture plate and pipe.

No. of employees: 1,000

NIAGARA ENERGY PRODUCTS

What they do: Manufacture components for energy and other industries.

No. of employees: About 50

NIAGARA FASTENERS

What they do: Manufacture bolts, rods, threading and other fasteners.

No. of employees: 30

IMT PARTNERSHIP/PC FORGE

What they do: Manufacture and supply parts to a variety of industries.

No. of employees: 375

Oakville

ADH TECHNOLOGIES

What they do: Engineering.

No. of employees: one

ACRES (HATCH)-SARGENT & LUNDY

What they do: Engineering, construction firm for energy industries.

No. of employees: 230 approx.

AMEC INC.

What they do: Professional services.

No. of employees: 500 approx.

HOOPER WELDING ENTERPRISES

What they do: Manufacture heavy gauge metal.

No. of employees: 26

LOU CHAMPAGNE SYSTEMS INC.

What they do: Radiation detection and monitoring

No. of employees: two

Sources: Organization of Candu Industries, ProfileCanada.com, Hamilton Spectator files