Canada’s first mini nuclear power plant slides under microscope of regulators
US$100M facility to produce technology that could deploy energy to remote areas
Canadian regulators have launched an environmental assessment of a proposal to build the country’s first small modular reactor, a kind of miniature nuclear power plant that advocates say could eventually help solve the energy needs of underserved remote locations and rejuvenate an industry dogged by uncertainty.
The proposed facility would be located approximately 200 kilometres northwest of Ottawa at the Chalk River site operated by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, a private-sector organization backed by Snc-lavalin Group Inc. and other engineering firms. The site is owned by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., a federal Crown corporation.
A description of the project, which has an estimated budget of approximately Us$100-million, was delivered to federal regulators earlier this month by Global First Power Ltd., a Mississauga, Ont.-based company that is partnering with Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. (USNC) and provincially owned Ontario Power Generation Inc. on the effort.
“The proposed project is the first commercial deployment of a private sector funded Small Modular Reactor (SMR) technology in Canada,” according to the project description.
SMRS are a smaller, less powerful and more portable form of nuclear that could be built in a factory, instead of on-site, and placed in locations both on and off the electricity grid.
In this case, the SMR would be built using “Micro Modular Reactor” (MMR) technology supplied by Ultra Safe.
There are high expectations for the technology. A November 2018 release from the federal government said SMRS “represent the next wave of innovation in nuclear energy technology,” with the potential for lower upfront capital costs and better safety features.
Interest in the smaller reactors also comes as nuclear power faces an uncertain future, with older plants being phased out in some jurisdictions and market conditions often favouring natural gas or renewable sources of power.
A November 2018 “roadmap” for SMRS, crafted with the help of Natural Resources Canada, provinces and power utilities, called the reactors a “potential game-changer” for the nuclear industry.
The report estimated the technology could provide Canada with 6,000 new jobs and add up to $10 billion to the country’s GDP between 2030 and 2040. The “global export potential” of SMR knowhow and products could be around $150 billion per year for 2030 to 2040, it projected.
“This includes applications for electricity generation, remote mine sites, island nations, and offgrid communities,” the study said, adding the estimate was based on “conservative assumptions.”
However, last October, more than 20 organizations, including the Canadian Environmental Law Association and Greenpeace, sent a letter to the federal government saying “the technology remains undeveloped and unproven” and that the reactors would still create radioactive waste requiring disposal.
But Francesco Venneri, CEO of USNC, said the company was founded in 2011 with Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster, which occurred earlier that year, very much in mind.
The project’s description says USNC’S MMR technology “is based largely on proven designs with inherent safety features, further augmented with specific novel safety features,” such as “Fully Ceramic Micro encapsulated” fuel, which would contain low-enriched uranium.
“Safety starts and should end at the fuel,” Venneri said. “If the fuel is not safe, then it’s not worth having a new system.”
With a planned lifespan of 20 years, the mini-nuclear plant would provide around 15 megawatts of process heat via molten salt to another, non-nuclear plant nearby that could convert it into electricity.
Construction wouldn’t start until at least 2021, and operation until 2023, according to the project description, which stated it will “demonstrate the commercial viability of the MMR technology to prospective customers (e.g., remote communities and mining industry) with no access to grid power for their heating and electricity needs.”
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories invited proposals for possible SMR projects last year, as the company wants to become “a global hub for small modular reactor development, a vision which includes the ambitious goal of deployment of a demonstration unit on a CNL managed (AECL owned) site by 2026,” a spokesperson said in an email.
Three other respondents are in various stages of CNL’S “SMR siting invitation process,” they added, but the Global First Power project is the first to file a licensing application to prepare the Chalk River site.
A licence from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission will be required, and the environmental assessment must be conducted before a licence can be granted.
OPG, which operates two major nuclear power plants in Ontario, will lend its expertise in obtaining licences and running facilities.
“I think when we look into the future, we see small modular reactors as really interesting technology that could be used as non-emitting generating sources for both on-grid and off-grid uses,” said Eric Mcgoey, the director of remote generation development at OPG.