Search

This web page

This is a "starter" web page to provide a repository of key information about the push for "small modular reactors" in Canada. It may morph into a real web site, it may not, but for now it is a place to share information and event notices about the push - and the push back - on Small Modular Reactors in Canada. If you have an item to post, please email the document (or better yet, email the link) to nukes@onlink.net. Thanks. 

Updates
On July 15th the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency posted a notice of the "commencement" of an environmental assessment of Global First Power's proposal to construct a small modular reactor at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories operated site at Chalk River Ontario. In this first step of the EA process, the public has thirty days to comment on a project description. The initial deadline for comments was August 14th. News release HERE.
On August 9th the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) announced that due to the high level of public interest in the project the  deadline for comments had been extended to September 14th.
 
​MORE INFO ON SEPTEMBER 14TH DEADLINE​
Key links
Webinar on Small Modular Reactors in Canada, March 7 2019, M.V. Ramana. Click HERE
CNSC Draft Regulatory Document on Licensing SMRs -   - including  submissions by the nuclear industry, CELA, Northwatch, and Greenpeace

Articles, Reports


Prospects for Small Modular Reactors in the UK & Worldwide, STEVE THOMAS, PAUL DORFMAN, SEAN MORRIS & M.V. RAMANA, JULY 2019

Scotland's Energy Future has no need for Nuclear, Nuclear Consulting Group, July 2019

Accident Scenarios Involving Pebble Bed High Temperature Reactors, Matthias Englerta, Friederike Frießb, and M. V. Ramana, SCIENCE & GLOBAL SECURITY, 2017

Small nuclear power reactors: Future or folly? M.V. Ramana in "The Conversation", July 24, 2017 7.18pm EDT

The checkered operational history of high temperature gas-cooled reactors
M. V. Ramana, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 2016

SMRS: the Second Make Believe Nuclear Renaissance, by Dr. Gordon Edwards, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility
Government of Ontario
​
Ontario Ministry of Energy SMR Deployment Feasibility Study Feasibility of the Potential Deployment of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) in Ontario. June 2016 
​Government of Canada
 Comment period on CNSC Draft Regulatory Document on Licensing SMRs 
ended December 2018 
​
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission "Pre-licensing Vendor Design Review", ongoing

Small modular reactors : strategy, approaches and challenges. Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission Discussion Paper DIS-16-04. 2016

​THE NUCLEAR SECTOR AT A CROSSROADS: FOSTERING INNOVATION AND ENERGY SECURITY FOR CANADA AND THE WORLD, Standing Committee Report, 2017

​Nuclear Industry Summaries

Perspectives on Canada's SMR Opportunity, CNL, undated, October 2017

Spin piece from the Canadian Nuclear Association: Small Modular Reactor Basics

​​International Atomic Energy Agency
IAEA Deployment Indicators for Small Modular Reactors - Methodology, Analysis of Key Factors and Case Studies, 2018

Advances in Small Modular Reactor Technology Developments: A Supplement to:
IAEA Advanced Reactors Information System (ARIS), IAEA, 2018

IAEA Data Base on new reactor designs (including SMRs)
​Advances in Small Modular Reactor Technology Developments, IAEA 2016
​

Chronology - Key milestones

Old News
​

July 2019
The IAEA is in the game of promoting small modular reactors, including through the " IAEA INPRO Forum Tackles Opportunities and Challenges in Small Modular Reactors" hosted by the IAEA in Korea in July 2019

June 2019
Anishnabek Nation opposes small modular reactors in their territories.

April 2019 
The CNSC posted a notice  on their website on April 1, 2019 that "on March 20, 2019, Global First Power submitted an application for a licence to prepare site for a small modular reactor on Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s property at the Chalk River Laboratories location."

July 2018
The CANDU Owners Group, its members and the supply community along with other industry partners are using their existing nuclear expertise to lead the next wave of nuclear generation — small modular reactors (SMRs), that offer the potential for new uses of nuclear energy while at the same time offering the benefits of existing nuclear in combatting climate change while providing
reliable, low-cost electricity. [CANDU.org]

July 10, 2018
A Maryland-based company and its Canadian subsidiary have joined with a Canada utility in a project to develop, license, and build an advanced small modular reactor (SMR). Advanced Reactor Concepts of Chevy Chase, Maryland, along with ARC Nuclear Canada—operating collectively as ARC Nuclear (ARC)—and New Brunswick Power (NB Power) on July 9 said their SMR would be based on ARC Nuclear’s mature Generation IV sodium-cooled fast reactor technology.[Powermag]

June 28, 2018
The U.K. government has announced that U-Battery has been successfully selected to receive funding in the Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR) Programme. U-Battery is a micro modular nuclear reactor being designed to provide secure, low carbon embedded power at industrial sites and remote locations, currently focused on the U.K. and Canadian markets.[JWNEnergy]

June 26, 2018
The New Brunswick government is committing $10 million to establish the province as a leader in the field of small, modular nuclear reactor technology.

June 12, 2018
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), Canada’s premier nuclear science and technology organization, is pleased to announce that four small modular reactor (SMR) project proponents have submitted responses to CNL’s recent Invitation for SMR Demonstration Projects at a CNL-managed site. [CNL]

April 18, 2018
Canadian Nuclear Laboratories has issued an invitation around the world for small modular reactor project proponents to apply for siting at one of the company’s facilities.[JWNEnergy]

March 14, 2018
Interest in Small Modular Nuclear Reactors Is Growing. So Are Fears They Aren’t Viable SMRs are the future of nuclear. Will they always be the future? [GreenTechMedia]

November 17, 2017
Canadian regulators announced that Terrestrial Energy has completed the initial phase of a design review for its molten-salt nuclear power plant, giving the Ontario-based company a small early lead in the race to commission the first commercial fourth-generation reactor in North America. [MIT Tech Review]

Apr 19, 2017
Ontario Power Generation [OPG] plans to fill a predicted supply gap in the 2030s with new nuclear capacity and the utility is collaborating with Saskatchewan on the potential for a Pan-Canadian fleet of Small Modular Reactors, Nicolle Butcher, OPG's Vice President of Strategy & Acquisitions, said.[Nuclear Energy Insider]
Picture
 Terrestrial Energy’s IMSR® small modular reactor (in graphic form...) 

Note: The fake transportation images are from NuScale's promotional materials. The "old news" stories are mostly from nuclear industry publications.