It has nuclear energy to be part of its clean energy mix, which will play a prominent role in drastically reducing carbon emissions. Per capita carbon emissions in Canada match those in the United States and exceed those in Russia, China, and India.
“We don’t see any way we can reach net carbon emissions by 2050 without nuclear power,” said Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s natural resources minister. “It’s proven, it’s proven and it’s safe. We are good ”.
Canada ranks sixth in terms of nuclear power generation, according to the Washington, DC-based Nuclear Energy Institute. Electricity produced from 19 nuclear reactors accounts for 15% of the country’s energy supply. In Ontario, an economic engine with a larger surface area than the state of Texas, nuclear power is the main source of electricity, with 60%.
Late last year, the Canadian federal government established a roadmap to encourage the deployment of what are known as small modular reactors or SMRs. They are a new class of reactors that are manufactured in factories and come in various sizes. They can produce enough energy for a city of up to 5,000 inhabitants or a city of up to 300,000.
“We don’t see a way to achieve clean carbon emissions by 2050 without nuclear power,” says Seamus O’Regan, Canada’s natural resources minister.
Photo:
Blair Gable / Reuters
Unlike old reactors, which are built on site and are large enough to power a city of a million or more, these smaller versions can be transported and released to local locations where they are connected to the power grid to give service to a large region or the needs of industrial areas or small cities. Proponents add that SMRs are more efficient at producing electricity compared to existing reactors and that their costs make them competitive with fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal.
Canadian officials see small modular reactors as a way to supply electricity to remote indigenous communities in the north, some of which are fueled by diesel. Two oil-rich western provinces, Alberta and Saskatchewan, have fossil fuels to generate most of their electricity, and neither has nuclear reactors. However, both provinces have expressed interest in the Canadian government in deploying small modular reactors as part of an economic strategy and an effort to move to cleaner forms of power.
Terrestrial Energy Inc., a Toronto-based company, is developing a 300-megawatt reactor that uses molten salt as a coolant and fuel. The Canadian government awarded the company $ 20 million, equivalent to about $ 16 million, in funding to help drive the investigation. Terrestrial hopes to have the first reactors ready for deployment by the end of this decade, assuming regulatory barriers are removed.
The prospects in Canada of small modular reactors have political support, with the federal government and four of the ten provinces on board with the deployment of technology. “They believe these technologies are important to them for their economy and environmental ambitions,” said Simon Irish, executive director of Earth Energy.
Some say small modular reactors and other new designs look good on paper, but they haven’t yet met real-world testing. “They’re PowerPoint reactors,” said Mycle Schneider, a Paris-based nuclear power consultant who is often critical of the industry. “These are not large-scale existing designs. It is far from being a detailed engineering ”.
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Some proponents of nuclear power even say small reactors that use new designs will cost more per megawatt than established designs that pack large capacity on a single plant.
“It’s a shame in my opinion because you’ve spent all this time, all these years,” developing and testing the latest generation of large reactors, said George Borovas, head of nuclear practice at Hunton Andrews Kurth law firm. First-class reactors are often delayed and “it’s more expensive than you might think,” he said.
Terrestrial Energy is one of three companies with which Ontario Power Generation is working to add small modular reactors to the Darlington Nuclear Power Plant, located 45 miles east of Toronto and currently capable of generating 3,500 megawatts. or enough to feed two million households. . Ontario Power Generation, a provincial government-owned company, is in a separate joint venture with Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp., which is seeking a license to build and operate a 15-megawatt modular reactor in a city about 125 miles away. miles northwest of the capital, Ottawa.
Irish said the next step for Canada is for governments to have more funding to help start-ups in the field of small reactors. “This is an important industrial technology for Canada, from the perspective of climate change, employment and the economy,” he said.
Canada’s Ministry of Natural Resources recognized its financial role in documents advocating nuclear power, especially next-generation small reactors.
Governments at the national and regional levels “have a role to play in sharing risk and reducing the cost of capital,” the ministry said. “Without government support, the private sector may not make the necessary investments to lay the groundwork for an SMR industry in Canada.”
O’Regan, the natural resources minister, told reporters in December that additional money could be made available in the annual budget plan for 2021. “We can’t afford to take anything off the table,” he said. “I see the world in a very pragmatic way.”
Write to Paul Vieira to [email protected] and Peter Landers to [email protected]
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