The government of the Province of Ontario recently gave the go-ahead for the construction of the first small modular reactors ("SMR") in North America (and in any G7 country, as a matter of fact). The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the federal regulator responsible for nuclear energy, issued a license to construct for the new SMR earlier this year (known as the Darlington New Nuclear Project). This SMR is the first of four grid-scale SMRs that Ontario Power Generation plans to construct at the Darlington site. The goal is to complete the first SMR and provide 300 megawatts (MW) of power to the grid by the end of 2030.
This is only the latest example of Canadian leadership in nuclear energy. While many other advanced economies have had a challenging record with nuclear power in recent decades, Canada has continued to invest successfully. Ongoing multibillion dollar refurbishment and life extension projects involving much of the large-scale CANDU nuclear fleet at both Bruce Power and Ontario Power Generation's existing Darlington nuclear facilities are on time and on budget. With its commitment to both existing as well as new nuclear technologies, such as SMRs, and a large and growing pool of talent and an integrated and experienced domestic and international supply chain, Canada is an ideal place to invest in the future of nuclear energy.
We take this occasion to provide an overview of nuclear energy opportunities in Canada, focusing on the Canadian commitment to growing its existing fleet of large nuclear and pursuing innovative SMR technologies—whether in research, manufacturing, construction or servicing—including from trusted trading partners in Japan, South Korea, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Nuclear Energy in Canada
Canada is already a Tier 1 nuclear nation along with the United States, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and France. Tier 1 nations have the full spectrum of nuclear capacities, including research reactors, power reactors, manufacturing, and research and development.
While Canada has been a nuclear power for over 60 years, reliance on nuclear energy varies considerably across its regions. In a country as large as Canada, the electricity supply mix is often driven by the geographic conditions in each province.
According to Natural Resources Canada, in 2022 12.9% of Canada's energy demand was met by nuclear power, second only to hydroelectric power (with 61.6%) and natural gas (with 12.6%).
As of 2024, only two provinces generated nuclear power:
- In Ontario, Canada's most populous province, approximately 60% of electricity is generated by nuclear power from 18 reactors.
- In New Brunswick, approximately 40% of electricity is supplied by one nuclear reactor in Point Lepreau, in the Bay of Fundy.
However, other provinces and territories are actively pursuing new nuclear energy projects. In Saskatchewan and Alberta, nuclear is a clean energy alternative to coal and coke, which account for 41% and 22% of power generation in these provinces, respectively. In addition, new nuclear will be essential for Ontario to meet the recently forecasted 75% increase in total electricity demand anticipated over the next 25 years, with an expected annual growth rate of more than two percent for the next couple of decades.
In addition to providing reliable, reasonably priced baseload power in Canada for many decades, energy security is another factor now driving increased interest in nuclear energy in Canada. Saskatchewan is the world's second-largest uranium producer, after Kazakhstan, with 15% of global production and, to date, much of the nuclear fuel supply chain required to support current nuclear power facilities in Canada is domestic.
New Large-Scale Nuclear Projects in Canada
In Ontario, both Bruce Power and Ontario Power Generation are in the planning stages for the future development of new large-scale nuclear power projects. These would be of a scale far larger than any SMR under consideration. The Bruce C project aims to create an option to build up to 4,800 MW of nuclear capacity at the Bruce Power site in Kincardine, Ontario. Ontario Power Generation is exploring opportunities for large-scale new nuclear generation at its Wesleyville site in Port Hope, Ontario. The Ontario government has also identified two additional locations for possible future large-scale nuclear power development at Lambton and Nanticoke. At present, reactor technology has not been selected for any of these projects. Leading candidates are expected to be the next generation of CANDU reactors as well as Westinghouse reactors. However, there is expected to be a competitive process in each case with opportunities for other international reactor designs.
In Alberta, Energy Alberta plans to build up to 4,800 MW of nuclear capacity in the Peace River area of Northern Alberta using the next generation of CANDU reactor design, the CANDU Monark. This facility would produce enough electricity to power a quarter of all of Alberta's generation requirements.
SMRs in Canada
An SMR is conventionally defined as a reactor with an output of up to 300 MW. It is "modular," meaning that some portions of the reactor can be assembled in a factory, not onsite, thus potentially lowering costs and facilitating more efficient deployment. World leaders in SMR technology are China, Russia, the United States and Canada.
What makes SMRs especially interesting is that they have the potential for a much wider range of applications than large-scale nuclear projects that have been deployed in the past. SMR designs range in size from very small micro SMRs (some less than 1 MW) to larger grid-scale designs (such as the Darlington New Nuclear Project). In addition to grid-scale electricity generation, SMRs have uses in heavy industries, heat and steam generation, and decentralized power supply for remote communities and mining. See, for example, Canada's Energy Future 2023 by the Canada Energy Regulator.
Much of the promise of SMRs is still on the drawing board. None have been built to date for commercial use outside of China and Russia. To help focus the SMR opportunity for Canada, in 2018 a group composed of provincial and territorial governments, and power utilities, with the support of Natural Resources Canada and the participation of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, released A Call to Action: Canadian Roadmap for Small Modular Reactors (the "Roadmap").
As the Roadmap explains, interest in SMRs is driven in part by the Canadian goal of a low-carbon future, as well as the possible emergence of a new industrial subsector in Canada. Adding to that is the hope that SMRs will prove to be a less expensive form of nuclear energy.
The Roadmap anticipated that SMR technology could be successful in Canada. This is particularly true, because Ontario and New Brunswick, Canada's two nuclear provinces, along with the Canadian government, have committed significant financial resources to modernizing the existing nuclear power generation infrastructure and establishing an SMR research cluster. This commitment has attracted other provinces and territories without significant clean power alternative, including Alberta and Saskatchewan, to pursue SMR opportunities.
The Roadmap sets very ambitious goals, recommending that the federal government should continue, "strong and effective international engagement on SMRs," notably by ensuring "[o]ne or more SMR demonstration [should be] constructed and in operation in Canada by 2026." While this timeline will not be achieved, the Darlington New Nuclear Project now puts the goal of a fully operational SMR within reach by 2030. This is, in part, the achievement of Canada's Small Nuclear Reactor Action Plan (the "Action Plan"). Released in 2020 and updated in 2022, the Action Plan highlights Canada's goal to achieve net-zero emissions in the electricity sector by 2035, aiming to be the home of one of the first operational grid-scale SMR projects among G7 nations.
While optimistic and criticized in some circles, the ambitious aims of the Action Plan have served as a catalyst for collaborative action across Canada. In 2022, Alberta and Saskatchewan, two provinces currently without nuclear power, joined with Ontario and New Brunswick and agreed to A Joint Strategic Plan for the Deployment of Small Modular Reactors. Each province is advancing various SMR projects and each is expected to draw upon and benefit from the experience being gained from the ongoing development of the Darlington New Nuclear Project in Ontario.
Canada's Ongoing Commitment to Nuclear Energy
Governments in Canada, at the federal, provincial and territorial levels, continue to dedicate significant financial and other resources to the further development of nuclear energy in Canada, both for large-scale nuclear and SMRs. At the federal level, some recent examples include:
- CAD $304 million in loans to finance the development and modernization of a new, large-scale CANDU nuclear reactor and support the broader Canadian supply chain;
- CAD $970 million in investments to date from the Canada Infrastructure Bank to advance the Darlington SMR Project;
- CAD $69.9 million for Natural Resources Canada to support activities to minimize waste generated from SMRs, support the creation of a fuel supply chain, strengthen international nuclear cooperation agreements, and enhance domestic safety and security policies and practices;
- CAD $50 million in federal funding from the Electricity Predevelopment Program to support the Bruce Power's assessment of new generation opportunities contemplated for Bruce C;
- CAD $250 million, over four years starting in 2022–23, for predevelopment activities of clean electricity projects of national significance, such as SMRs;
- CAD $50.7 million for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to build its capacity to regulate SMRs and to work internationally on regulatory harmonization; and
- Up to CAD 80 million in funding to Saskatchewan's Crown Investments Corporation to SaskPower's SMR predevelopment work.
Opportunities in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Beyond
In Saskatchewan's Growth Plan - The Next Decade of Growth - 2020–2030, a policy document released in 2019, the government of the Province of Saskatchewan outlined its plans to incorporate nuclear power through SMRs into Saskatchewan's energy mix so that up to 80% of the province's electricity could be generated through zero-emission sources. By 2024, Saskatchewan had taken substantial steps towards developing zero-emission SMR technology, including:
- Completion of a four-year evaluation process, resulting in the selection of GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 technology, the same being deployed at Darlington; and
- Establishing the Small Modular Reactor Investment Fund to support provincial investment in the first grid-scale SMR.
Saskatchewan is currently in the planning phase for its first SMR project with a potential investment decision by 2029 and a potential in-service date in 2034.
In the Province of Alberta, there are a number of projects under consideration:
- Energy Alberta is pursuing the large-scale nuclear power project discussed above;
- Early in 2024, Capital Power and Ontario Power Generation announced they would complete a feasibility assessment within two years, continuing work on the next stages of SMR development in Alberta, pursuing a similar path to Saskatchewan; and
- Alberta entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute in April 2023, to bolster collaboration with respect to the deployment of SMR technology, including the System-Integrated Modular Advanced Reactor ("SMART"), a Korean-designed technology, in Alberta.
In addition to the nuclear energy opportunities highlighted above, there are many more potential SMR development projects under consideration in Ontario, New Brunswick and in Canada's far north in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.
Conclusion
Among the G7 nations, Canada has become a key player in the development and deployment of nuclear power. Provinces such as Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick, with goals to meet growing demands for clean and cost-competitive electricity, diversify their energy mix, and reduce their carbon footprint, are expected to provide substantial opportunities for the foreseeable future in the nuclear sector for research, development, deployment, operation and servicing. Such investments may be of particular interest to stakeholders with the technological know-how in the nuclear energy sector, especially from Canada's reliable trading partners such as Japan, South Korea, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. Each pose a comparatively low national security risk and have a long history of strong economic and political relationships with Canada.
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