Aecon Teams Awarded C$3 Billion of Pickering Refurbishment Contracts
Pickering Nuclear Generating Station seen from Beachfront Park, June 6, 2026. Photo: Dillan Payne, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.
Key Points
- Ontario Power Generation awarded contracts worth an aggregate C$3 billion for the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station Refurbishment Project to teams including Aecon.
- Aecon’s C$1.75 billion share goes into Construction segment backlog in the third quarter of 2026.
- A 50/50 joint venture with AtkinsRéalis holds the C$1.7 billion Unit 5 retube, feeder and boiler replacement contract; an Aecon-Siemens Energy consortium holds the C$1.3 billion turbine generator replacement contract.
- Project execution is expected to begin in January 2027, pending regulatory approval, with similar retube work anticipated on Units 6, 7 and 8 in later phases.
- Aecon reported backlog of C$10,492 million at June 30, 2026, of which C$10,471 million sat in the Construction segment.
The Awards
Aecon Group Inc. (TSX: ARE) said on September 21, 2026 that its joint venture with AtkinsRéalis and its consortium with Siemens Energy had been awarded contracts by Ontario Power Generation for the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station Refurbishment Project with an aggregate value of C$3 billion. Aecon’s C$1.75 billion share will be added to its Construction segment backlog in the third quarter of 2026.
The contracts follow completion of previous early-work contracts. Prerequisite work ahead of the refurbishment has begun, and Aecon expects project execution to start in January 2027, pending regulatory approval. Both projects are nearing the end of collaborative development work, with further prerequisite activity expected to start in September 2026. OPG applied in June 2025 to renew Pickering’s Power Reactor Operating Licence; the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission held Part 1 of the public hearing on June 23, 2026, and Part 2 is scheduled for October 6 to 9, 2026, in Ajax, Ontario.
OPG’s Pickering Nuclear Generating Station is a CANDU station in Pickering, Ontario, east of Toronto. OPG took Units 1 and 4 offline in late 2024; the refurbishment covers Units 5 to 8, scheduled to come offline in September 2026, and is intended to secure 2,100 MW of capacity, with all four units back in service by the mid-2030s. OPG estimates the full four-unit refurbishment at C$26.8 billion in 2024 Canadian dollars, including interest and escalation. The newly announced C$3 billion of contracts covers two scopes within that wider project.
| Scope | Aecon partner | Contract value | Aecon position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit 5 retube, feeder and boiler replacement | AtkinsRéalis | C$1.7 billion | 50/50 joint venture |
| Turbine generator replacement | Siemens Energy | C$1.3 billion | Majority interest in consortium, percentage not disclosed |
| Aggregate | C$3.0 billion | C$1.75 billion booked to Aecon backlog |
Retube, Feeder and Boiler Replacement
The C$1.7 billion contract covers Unit 5 and is held by Aecon’s 50/50 joint venture with AtkinsRéalis. Scope includes replacement of the steam generators, fuel channels and feeders, major-component work intended to support decades of further operation.
Unit 5 is the first retube unit in the wider refurbishment. Aecon said similar work is anticipated on Units 6, 7 and 8 in subsequent phases, subject to regulatory approval. The announcement did not disclose values or award structures for those later phases.
Retube, Feeder and Boiler Replacement (RFBR)
CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) reactors are a Canadian pressurized heavy-water design that runs on natural uranium, with fuel held in horizontal pressure tubes rather than a single large reactor vessel. Retube, feeder and boiler replacement is central to refurbishing one. Pressure tubes contain the fuel bundles and pressurized heavy-water coolant; calandria tubes surround the pressure tubes. Replacing these components, along with feeders and boilers, is intended to support at least 30 more years of operation, subject to CNSC licensing and future approvals.
Turbine Generator Replacement
The second contract, worth C$1.3 billion, sits with a consortium of Aecon and Siemens Energy. Aecon holds a majority interest in that consortium and provides construction services and material procurement. The release does not disclose the ownership split.
Scope covers installation of 14 new steam turbine rotors, overhaul of four generators including stator rewinds, new auxiliary systems, and a control and monitoring system.
What It Adds to Backlog
Aecon reported backlog of C$10,492 million at June 30, 2026, against C$10,746 million a year earlier. Construction segment backlog was C$10,471 million, C$255 million below the same date in 2025, with nuclear operations backlog down C$488 million year over year inside that figure.
The C$1.75 billion Pickering share equals roughly a sixth of Construction backlog at the half-year mark, and it exceeds the C$1,269 million of new contract awards Aecon booked across the whole of the second quarter of 2026. It also more than offsets the year-over-year decline in nuclear backlog reported at June 30.
Aecon did not disclose a revenue-recognition schedule for the new awards. Its second-quarter 2026 revenue was C$1,631.0 million, with adjusted EBITDA of C$82.4 million, a 5.1% margin.
Pickering in Aecon’s Nuclear Portfolio
Aecon held a leading role on the completed Darlington Refurbishment and holds one on Bruce Power’s Major Component Replacement program. It is also helping deliver the Darlington New Nuclear Project, which Aecon describes as the G7’s first commercial grid-scale small modular reactor.
The company said the Pickering work will draw on hundreds of its nuclear and union trades workers and on a Canadian supply chain and fabrication network built across earlier reactor programs.
“Aecon played a key role in safely completing the Darlington Refurbishment ahead of schedule and under budget, and we are applying the lessons learned, best practices and proven execution strategies from that project to support the successful delivery of the Pickering refurbishment.”
— Aaron Johnson, Senior Vice President, Nuclear, Aecon Group Inc.
Aecon described both Pickering scopes as collaborative delivery models with its partners, but did not disclose pricing or risk-sharing terms.
References
- Aecon Group Inc., “Aecon teams awarded contracts with aggregate value of $3 billion for the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station Refurbishment,” Press Release, September 21, 2026.
- Aecon Group Inc., “Aecon reports second quarter 2026 results,” Press Release, July 30, 2026.
- Ontario Power Generation, “Pickering refurbishment project,” project overview and FAQs.
- Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, “Pickering Nuclear Generating Station,” licensing and refurbishment information.
- AtkinsRéalis, Unit 5 refurbishment joint-venture announcement, September 21, 2026 (French).
- Dillan Payne, Pickering Nuclear Generating Station photograph, June 6, 2026, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.