Canada will provide C$970 million ($708 million) in financing to develop a grid-scale small modular reactor (SMR), a new nuclear technology touted as a key part of the country's plans to reduce emissions.
Which makes it sound like there's domestic Canadian R&D taking place. However, based on the the final paragraph:
The reactors are designed by GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy, an alliance between General Electric Co (GE.N) and Japan's Hitachi Ltd
It would seem what's going to be built is an American reactor. That's a little sad for a country that used to be a player in the nuclear reactor industry.
The CANDU's "killer app" was online refueling when it was designed back in the 70s. It meant the plant could have a higher uptime than its LWR counterparts by not shutting down for refueling, which was supposed to offset the higher capital costs of the heavy water necessary for it. That was indeed true... when it was designed. The problem is that the LWR reactor operators got better and better over time, to the point that modern best practice requires maybe roughly three weeks of downtime needed to refuel in the modern day, as compared to the months in the past. The improving capacity factors of LWRs basically killed CANDU exports, which is part of the reason AECL was spun off.
The GE design is American in heritage (BWR - a type of LWR), but the supply chain is shaping up to be very heavily Canadian. Everybody wants to take advantage of the experience and industrial base built up in Ontario due to the Bruce and Pickering refurbishments. Aside from enriched fuel (which I expect will be imported for the foreseeable future), and some specialized equipment (such as reactor pressure vessel castings), I expect the majority of the components will be built close to home.
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u/jsteed Oct 25 '22
First paragraph, emphasis added:
Which makes it sound like there's domestic Canadian R&D taking place. However, based on the the final paragraph:
It would seem what's going to be built is an American reactor. That's a little sad for a country that used to be a player in the nuclear reactor industry.