About $180 million has been spent on two planned nuclear reactors the Liberal government scrapped this week — in part because the price tag had skyrocketed to $15 billion.

Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli’s office confirmed that Ontario Power Generation (OPG) had already conducted a lot of costly groundwork for the proposed new nukes.

“It is our understanding that OPG has invested $180 million to date in environmental approvals, project planning and public and stakeholder consultations around potential new build,” Beckie Codd-Downey, Chiarelli’s press secretary, said in an email Friday.

On Thursday, the minority Liberal government, which is saddled with an $11.7-billion budget deficit, announced that the new reactors originally proposed by former premier Dalton McGuinty were no longer required.

It had been thought the two would cost a total of $10 billion, but the Ministry of Energy said that had risen by 50 per cent to $15 billion.

However, the Liberals are moving forward with refurbishing OPG’s Darlington station, which provides 20 per cent of Ontario’s electricity, and the privately operated Bruce nuclear facility.

A multi-year overhaul of all Darlington four reactors is set to start in 2016.

“It is not wise to spend billions and billions of dollars in new nuclear when that power is not needed,” Chiarelli said Thursday.

“So this is a good decision for ratepayers and the people of Ontario.”

Codd-Downey said Friday that the minister’s comments mean “nuclear will remain the backbone of Ontario’s electricity system.”

Last year atomic energy accounted for 56 per cent of Ontario’s generation, but Chiarelli said Thursday that should eventually drop to about 47 per cent.

“We’re in a comfortable (electricity generation) surplus position at this time and it’s not advisable to make the major investments in new nuclear. Some time in the future we might be looking at it,” the minister said Thursday.

The revelation that $180 million has been spent on two reactors that won’t be built comes same week as auditor general Bonnie Lysyk disclosed the Liberals spent up to $1.1 billion to cancel two gas-fired power plants.

Those two facilities — in Oakville and Mississauga — were scrapped by former premier Dalton McGuinty to save five Liberal seats in the 2011 election.

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Premier Kathleen Wynne has repeatedly apologized for the debacle, but energy issues are expected to dominate an election that could come next spring.

The Progressive Conservatives say they would restart the building of new nuclear facilities if elected, while the NDP wants to wean the province off of atomic power.

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