In 2012, the provincial government under then-premier Pauline Marois accepted Hydro-Québec’s recommendation to close Gentilly-2, in part because of the high cost of refurbishing the plant.

“More than 10 years later, costs can only go up because we’ve started dismantling the plant,” Pineau explained in an interview. An increase in construction costs in the last decade means “the nuclear bill could turn out to be very high,” he said.