This article originally appeared in the Globe and Mail.
By George Christidis and Heather Exner-Pirot, November 8, 2024
Advocates of nuclear energy tout its environmental and economic benefits, but there are also compelling geopolitical reasons to pursue nuclear.
Energy security concerns have thrust nuclear forward as a critical solution for many countries traditionally dependent on, or integrated with, Russian nuclear energy and gas supplies. Their desire to disentangle their energy systems from Russia presents Canada the opportunity to use its nuclear expertise and supply chain to contribute to European energy security.
Canada should leverage its domestic momentum and participate fully in international energy and security initiatives that promote commercial opportunities. We need to sell our nuclear expertise overseas. One such opportunity is through the Three Seas Initiative.
Launched in 2016, this group includes the 13 countries located between the Baltic, Black and Adriatic Seas. It aims to strengthen economic, political and energy ties along the north-south axis of the eastern flank of Europe, not least to bolster their security and resilience regarding Russia. The United States, Germany, the European Commission and Japan are also partners.
The Three Seas Initiative encapsulates what a nuclear energy strategy for Canada could look like: leveraging our natural and human resources to create new market opportunities, partnering with like-minded allies that are seeking to divest themselves of their reliance on authoritarian regimes and supporting the expansion of nuclear energy to meet global climate goals.
Canada’s nuclear industry is already a significant economic driver at home. Five years ago, a Canadian Nuclear Association survey found the industry directly employed 33,000 people, up from 30,000 in 2012. Updates to that survey indicate there has been about 10- to 15-per-cent growth in the past five years.
This expansion is being fuelled by a flurry of activity. Ontario is doubling down on the role of nuclear energy in its electricity mix, with the continuing refurbishments of nuclear power stations at Ontario Power Generation Inc. (OPG) Darlington and Bruce Power plants, and the beginning of the refurbishment of the four reactors at OPG’s Pickering station. This has been complemented by an expansion of Ontario’s world-leading nuclear isotope production. AtkinsRéalis Group Inc. is developing a modernized Candu 1,000-megawatt (MW) reactor, the Monark; and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy and OPG are building up to four small modular reactors (SMRs) at the Darlington station, with site preparation for the first already under way. A potential expansion at the Bruce station (the Bruce C Project) could add up to four new large reactors, or 4,800 MW.
There is work being done to extend nuclear beyond the existing Ontario sites. Westinghouse, the largest American nuclear developer, opened an engineering office in Kitchener, Ont., in June and is developing its eVinci microreactor with the Saskatchewan Research Council. SaskPower has established a nuclear subsidiary called SaskNuclear, and is collaborating with OPG for the potential development of the GE Hitachi SMRs in Saskatchewan. In New Brunswick, an SMR hub has been developed between NB Power, ARC Clean Energy Inc. and Moltex Energy Canada Inc.
Work is also being advanced upstream and downstream of nuclear generation. Many are awaiting the licensing of NexGen Energy Ltd.’s world-class Rook I uranium mine in northern Saskatchewan, alongside other advanced uranium projects in the region. And the site selection for the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO) deep geological repository, which will provide a final resting place for Canada’s used nuclear fuel, is expected by the end of the year.
The pieces are lining up for Canada to lead in the new nuclear age.
Canada’s participation in the Three Seas Initiative could capitalize on existing momentum in the region. Romania has been generating nuclear power with a Candu reactor since 1996, and is currently developing new Candu reactors to bolster its energy security and improve its climate impact, with support of $3-billion in federal export financing from the government of Canada. Similarly, OPG is working with Poland’s ORLEN Synthos Green Energy (OSGE) to provide operator services as they deploy and operate SMRs in Europe. And Cameco Corp. and Ukraine’s state-owned utility Energoatom have an agreement that is seeing the Canadian miner provide Ukraine’s natural uranium hexafluoride needs up to 2035.
To fully realize the potential of Canada’s nuclear industry, and expand it to other regions, supportive policies such as investment tax incentives, loan guarantees, export financing and regulatory streamlining will be crucial.
To make this happen, our foreign defence, industrial and international trade policies need to better align. If we do not actively seek out these opportunities, others will fill in the gap.
George Christidis is the interim chief executive of the Canadian Nuclear Association.
Heather Exner-Pirot is the director of Energy, Natural Resources, and Environment at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
