Mac grad happy to be back with ‘world-class’ nuclear program
Dave Tucker returns to McMaster after a three-year stint at the International Atomic Energy Agency
For three years, McMaster University alum Dave Tucker was half way across the globe in Vienna, Austria, heading the radiation safety division of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
The world’s only central forum for co-operation in the nuclear field, Tucker was tasked with prepping IAEA inspection teams bound to monitor safety infrastructure at nuclear facilities in more than 170 countries.
It was a remarkable experience, Tucker says, the type of job many scientists would consider the pinnacle to a career.
But in a line of work where observations are the all-encompassing, one stood out repeatedly.
“It was how incredibly worldclass McMaster’s nuclear activities are compared to the rest of the world,” says Tucker. “There’s a lot of respect for Canadian nuclear know-how, and McMaster’s a huge part of that.”
That’s why Tucker jumped at the chance to return to his alma mater on April 1 to begin a tenure as the university’s assistant vice-president of nuclear research.
The two-time McMaster grad says it’s a position that comes with great responsibility — the title didn’t exist before his appointment.
It also comes with great promise.
As Canada commits to net-zero emissions by 2050, nuclear energy has become the focal point of scientists’ plans to create a carbon-free future.
According to the National Energy Institute, a single nuclear reactor generates enough electricity to power 755,000 homes without emitting any greenhouse gases.
One uranium fuel pellet — about the size of a small candy and found inside reactors — can create as much energy as one ton of coal or 149 gallons of oil.
“It’s very, very clear that to meet our climate and carbon targets, we have to rely on nuclear,” says Tucker, who was also a senior health physicist at Mac for nearly two decades prior to joining the IAEA.
“It has to be part of the mix. But we have to move because there’s no time to waste.”
Part of that solution is the emergence of small modular nuclear reactors — practical, quick-to-build power sources that can work in unison with other clean-energy options such as wind and solar.
The reactors provide large amounts of energy, heat and hydro on demand, and without the structural dependence of a huge nuclear power plant or electrical grid.
“Rather than having to wait to build a massively new nuclear site, with these small reactors, society can be a lot more nimble about deploying the power when and how we need it,” says Tucker.
“It adds carbon-free power to the grid in a cheaper, faster, more modular way without the barriers of building the big plant.”
The question researchers now have is getting these climatefriendly, efficient reactors into small communities.
A good first place to look is McMaster’s five-megawatt nuclear reactor.
Tucker says the free-standing structure — in operation since 1959 and one of the globe’s few suppliers of medical isotopes used to treat cancer — can be a blueprint for other provinces to model.
While the reactor doesn’t generate any power and is mainly used for research, its size and management shows what can be achieved with small-scale nuclear energy sources.
“We’re not on a massive nuclear site, we don’t have a huge corporate infrastructure,” says Tucker.
“We’ve got a lean and effective team to operate it safety, which is much closer to the model of these small-modular reactors.”
Tucker says recent federal funding will help McMaster expand the reactor’s capacity and increase collaboration with government partners.
With the rising concerns about the climate and the economic turmoil brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, he says the need to introduce nuclear energy to the next generation of Canadians has never been more pertinent.
“Nuclear is not a new idea, but it’s an idea that’s finally getting the recognition and application it deserves,” says Tucker. “We’re happy to be a part of that change at McMaster.”