Welcome to the Nuclear Age
I don’t usually talk about things that aren’t defence related, but this was one of those announcements that I just really wanted to get out there.
This funding aims not only to push along new nuclear developments in the pipeline, but also modernize Canadas Nuclear regulations and promote the development of Canadas next generation of reactor designs.
Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources had this to say:
“Nuclear is an integral part of Canada’s resilient and independent energy future, and CANDU technology is helping us get there — while creating good domestic jobs and supporting international Canadian energy exports. By advancing innovative projects like MONARK reactors, this government is reinforcing our commitment to domestically sourced and processed uranium, which is creating good-paying jobs in Ontario and throughout the country. And through investments in the Darlington New Nuclear project and SMRs in Alberta, we are providing a powerful example of how public and private sectors can work together to enhance energy security; advance cutting-edge, made-in-Canada nuclear technologies; and deliver a clean and reliable energy future.”
This is the latest of several announcements Mr. Wilkinson has made the last week in regards to building Canadas Critical Mineral capacity, but it is by far the one that interests me the most.
Energy security is a major part of our security infrastructure, and nuclear remains the best way to not only expand upon our energy capabilities, but remain committed to our environmental commitments at the same time.
We need a lot of energy, not only to keep up with growing demands, but also to ensure we have the capabilities to expand upon critical sectors such as AI, data management, and assist in supporting Northern development.
A number of projects and initiatives were on the list released today, totalling almost eight-hundred million dollars in total funding.
This includes a three-hundred million dollar loan to Atkinsrealis for continued development of CANDU Monark, their next-generation CANDU reactor that they’ve been working on for the last several years.
The 1000MW reactor is currently in the pre-licensing design review phase, with hopes to have the first reactor beginning construction in the late 2020s, although as of now the design has yet to be selected for any project.
Monark builds upon the decades-long legacy of CANDU reactors. This is not a new design, but a evolution that aims to reduce the operating costs for the user, speed up construction timelines through a module-based system, and modernize the previous generation of CANDU reactors safety features.
It builds on the work Atkinsrealis has done in modernizing and maintaining the global chain of CANDU reactors in Canada, Romania, and Argentina since Atkins, than SNC-Lavelin acquired AECL back in 2011.
There is nothing here on Atkins CANDU SMR proposal, which had lost out to competitor GE Hitachi in a number of SMR projects across Canada, most notably in Ontario.
This is a very welcomed development, especially as Ontario aims to add both new generating capability to Bruce, but also the investigates the potential for new, large power generation in Southern Ontario, where Premier Ford has been touting nuclear as a preferred option.
There is also work internationally in the pipeline. The Canadian government has confirmed in the last few days its approval of a $2.85 billion contract to extend the life of the Unit 1 CANDU reactor at the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant in Romania.
Romania also plans to add two additional CANDU reactors to Cernavoda, the first since 2007. Canada has also signed nuclear cooperation agreements with Poland this year, and Lithuania recently.
We also had Mary Ng do a tour of Asia that heavily included the promotion of nuclear cooperation in countries like Brunei, Singapore and Indonesia just a month ago. This included $7.3 million in funding over 5 years to launch the Canadian Trade Gateway for Nuclear Development.
Point is, nuclear isn’t just hot for us, but also for export. Canada has long established itself as a nuclear power, but we largely let that advantage wither away from the nineties onward.
From hybrid nuclear submarines, to SMRs in the eighties, Canada has always been at the forefront of nuclear development, though like many things allowed ourselves to fall behind and eventually stopped caring.
This year aims to be the relaunch, the push that puts us back at the global stage of nuclear development as other countries, such as South Korea, start to expand to the international market.
This wasn’t the entirety of the funding though, a number of SMR projects were also funded during this round, including predevelopment work at Darlington ahead of their own SMR deployment, but also funding to both Alberta and Saskatchewan for planning and evaluation of their own SMR deployments.
CNL also received new funding for developing SMR guidelines, while SIMSA received funding for starting work on developing Saskatchewans SMR supply chain.
Notably, there was funding for one large scale project in this, The proposed nuclear generation station at Peace River in Alberta. This almost 5000MW proposal has been floated privately the last few years by Energy Alberta.
This isn’t Energy Alberta’s first go at this either, having originally proposed the concept in 2009 before moving on to Bruce, which cancelled their own proposal in 2011. This concept was revived by Energy Alberta in 2023.
I’m quite surprised to see it on this list, especially because the proposal was originally thrown out there as entirely private funding.
If constructed to its full potential, the Chalk River Nuclear Generating station would be one of the largest in Canada, and the first large reactor in Western Canada. That is, if it goes through.
If you can’t tell, I’m quite pleased. I have long been an advocate for nuclear development and it’s one of the few things that I’ve given the Ford government credit for.
There’s nothing I could say to add to this, nor could I really complain. It goes far beyond what I was expecting to be announced especially so close to a potential election.
Could it be this is just a smokes and mirrors promise on the eve of an election? Possibly, but the potential future conservative government under Pierre Polilievre has been very supportive of Nuclear expansion, and I don’t expect them to throw this out the window so easily.
I want to see more, but this is good for now. It remains on the provinces to get these projects off the ground and developing But this round the funding helps put a lot of them over the edge into the next phase.
Hopefully, it isn’t the last.
The peace river Nuclear could help to dramatically reduce Oil sands emissions as well.