Feds bet on mini nuclear to hit net-zero carbon target
The federal government believes that small nuclear reactors will help it achieve its goal of carbon neutrality in 30 years and is laying out a road map to develop and deploy them across the country even though the technology has not been commercially proven yet.
Natural Resources Minister Seamus O'regan on Friday announced the details of the Small Modular Reactors (SMRS) Action Plan, which includes a plan to encourage the development of miniaturized nuclear power plants and 27 legislative and regulatory steps the federal government will follow to encourage their development.
The government believes small-scale reactors are part of a wider plan to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and the plan includes a commitment to include nuclear energy in international energy and climate-change discussions.
“This is a long-term play,” O'regan said. “We are really looking at SMRS, utilized and deployed, between the years 2030 and 2050, but you've got to lay the groundwork for that now.”
He said governments and companies in the United States, China, United Kingdom, France and South Korea are all researching and developing mini-nuclear reactors.
“They are making those steps now, this is a very competitive space now, and if we don't move on it now, then we lose out,” O'regan said.
The federal government believes there's an opportunity to deploy SMRS in remote locations, including in the territories, where diesel generators continue to be a major part of the electricity mix and a large source of emissions in the region.
Friday's action plan enshrines nuclear energy as a key part of the Liberal's desire to reduce emissions and transition the country's electricity mix away from carbon-based energy, but it will face some opposition from the Green Party and the Bloc Quebecois, which favour energy sources such as wind and solar power.
Nuclear energy does not emit carbon, but it creates waste in the form of used uranium, which is part of the reason it is opposed by green groups.
Large nuclear reactors such as TC Energy Corp.'s Bruce Power facility in Ontario are already part of Canada's power grid, but the technology at those reactors has not been successfully converted into a smaller, modular form.