Nuclear momentum continues to grow across Canada

Westinghouse in a statement said that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Energy Alberta to conduct joint technical and commercial discussions on deploying its AP1000 in the province.

To the east, the government of Saskatchewan released a new nuclear plan setting out a long-term vision that includes the deployment of new SMR units. The government also announced its intention to fund four new nuclear research chairs at postsecondary institutions in the province.

More on Alberta: Energy Alberta is a private company focused on new nuclear development in the province. Its flagship initiative, the Peace River Nuclear Power Project, seeks to eventually deploy a 4800-MWe plant equipped with four large-scale reactors in northern Alberta. Its new MOU with Westinghouse builds on the company’s early work on that project.

While Westinghouse’s announcement mentioned plans for a single AP1000, it also includes reference to the value of a four-unit facility eventually coming to Canada. This, taken with Energy Alberta’s plans for four units at Peace River, indicates that the companies’ partnership could grow in the future.

Canada currently has four operating nuclear power plants: three in Ontario and one in New Brunswick. While Alberta has never been home to a nuclear power plant, in recent years it has funded studies and released strategic plans involving new small modular reactor deployment. This announcement represents a departure from the provincial government’s past preference towards smaller-scale projects.

“Alberta is in an exciting position to be Canada’s next greenfield nuclear province,” said John Gorman, president of Westinghouse Canada, who added that Alberta’s strong industrial supply chains will be an invaluable asset in new nuclear deployment.

More on Saskatchewan: The government of Saskatchewan announced that it will invest $6.3 million over the next six years to establish four new nuclear research chairs at postsecondary institutions in the province.

Those chairs, according to a government press release, will support new nuclear deployment in the province. Jeremy Harrision, the minister responsible for Saskpower (the province’s public electric utility) said that the chairs will “help build the nuclear engineering capacity and training Saskatchewan will need as we move toward our future nuclear reality.”

Saskatchewan’s newly released Energy Security Strategy and Supply Plan builds further on the province’s plans to invest in nuclear, framing nuclear as Saskatchewan’s principal energy source of the future. Specifically, it states that the government will continue engaging with GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy on deploying a BWRX-300 SMR in the province while also investigating new prospects in large-scale nuclear deployments.

Saskatchewan, through its partnership with GE Hitachi, hopes to replicate Ontario’s recent success in advancing its own BWRX-300 project. More broadly, the plan reemphasized the province’s aim to be carbon neutral by 2050 and set a goal to review and bolster the legislative framework around nuclear.