Canada Boasts of SMR Advances

Written by Daniel Graeber for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Expecting its first small modular reactor (SMR) for nuclear energy by 2030, the Canadian government said it's at the forefront of the emerging technology.

SMRs are essentially small-scale, modular nuclear power facilities that could in theory see a strong rollout due to their versatility and smaller footprint. SMRs are increasingly seen as an important route to lower carbon emissions and long-term energy security, all with a significantly lower price point and faster rollout than traditional nuclear power plants.

The top national developers -- Canada, Poland, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States -- account for about 58% of the proposed projects globally. On Thursday, the Canadian government says it believes it's at the forefront among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Canada has developed its own type of reactor called Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU), a type of heavy-water reactor that relies on natural uranium rather than enriched uranium for fuel.

Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency has outlined 68 different SMR designs, and the Canadian government says it's behind at least seven of those. Its Darlington SMR facility was licensed in April and could be online by 2030, when it will become the first operational, commercial-scale facility of its kind in North America.

"Canada has been at the forefront of SMR development," the government said.

The technology chosen for the project is the BWRX-300 SMR, a 300-megawatt (MW) reactor developed by GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy. Developer Ontario Power Generation estimates all four units at Darlington would cost around USD$15 billion.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Power Project Database can click here for the report on the initial reactor.

The go-ahead given by the provincial government comes as Ontario's Independent Electricity System Operator estimates provincial power demand could increase 75% by 2050. Meanwhile, electricity is ensnared in North American trade disputes, with Ontario Premier Doug Ford enacting tariffs on electricity sent to the United States.

In the United States, up to $900 million was made available to support the deployment of the next generation of SMRs under former President Joe Biden. His signature Inflation Reduction Act also included investment tax credits for advanced nuclear plants, including a 10% credit for SMRs attached to retired coal-power plants.

President Donald Trump in May ordered the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to cut down on regulations and fast-track new licenses for reactors and power plants, seeking to shrink a multi-year process down to 18 months.

That same month, the Tennessee Valley Authority (Knoxville, Tennessee) became the first U.S. utility company to submit an SMR construction permit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. That facility would boast 300 MW of power at the Clinch River Modular Nuclear Site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

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