First new Nuclear Reactor in Canada since 1980's

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OVERKILL

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There's been some recent development and commitment on the SMR reactor front, most of it in Ontario where the government is supporting, through extensive federal funding, the development and testing of Advanced SMR reactors at the former Chalk River experimental reactor location. While great news for those in the Nuclear industry, it is still a long road ahead before designs are agreed on, a plan finalized, and something is actually built and operated.

However, there appears to be a game-changing announcement for the little province of New Brunswick, which has the only operating Nuclear reactor in Canada outside of Ontario (which has 18) as it is partnering with ARC Nuclear to potentially build, license and distribute a relatively mature design tested in Idaho. This is a sodium cooled fast-reactor Small Modular unit with a 100MWe capacity. The intention is to develop a standardized design of which the initial unit will be built at the existing NB Power Point Lepreau single CANDU site for testing purposes and then that design will be formerly commercialized and deployed to other build sites across Canada.

More info here:
Business Wire article

Pretty exciting news. One of the main purposes of this activity is to develop a technology that can be reliably deployed in remote locations with no grid access. Additional uses include central heating for northern communities as well as the ability to run mining operations and their auxiliary components.
 
This is good news. Hopefully the have a lot less red tape and regulation getting this done than the Americans.

Can you imagine a new Nuclear plant being built in America today and the nashing of teeth that would go along with it?
 
Fast meaning fast neutrons? These have been previously shunned because of the potential to make bomb type material. My nuclear science professor was a big fan of these because they make more useful fuel than they consume.
 
There was a review of using nuclear energy in heavy oil in northern alberta a while ago. Considering the heating requirements of bitumen/oil extraction, this would fit the bill very nicely. Add in some refining and we can stop selling tar across the world and up the anti to more value added product.
 
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
This is good news. Hopefully the have a lot less red tape and regulation getting this done than the Americans.

Can you imagine a new Nuclear plant being built in America today and the nashing of teeth that would go along with it?
Three Mile Island scared the tin foil hat crowd so badly that even the mention of nuclear power causes their eyeballs to cage and spastic shaking like even the mention of the subject causes radiation poisoning. Only way to go. The taxpayers need to start seeing the utilization of Yucca Mountain which is as safe as mankind can make it.
 
Yah-Tah-Hey, Wabbout the mess at Hanford WA? Nuke neutral here. France is heavily invested in nukes. Good track record. How do they handle waste?
 
Originally Posted By: andyd
Yah-Tah-Hey, Wabbout the mess at Hanford WA? Nuke neutral here. France is heavily invested in nukes. Good track record. How do they handle waste?

Hanford? Isnt that where they intentionally released so they could test a theory that they would then be able to find Russian nuke sites and in the process irradiated everyone living nearby?
 
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
This is good news. Hopefully the have a lot less red tape and regulation getting this done than the Americans.

Can you imagine a new Nuclear plant being built in America today and the nashing of teeth that would go along with it?


Should be easy with the current administration. A little green would fix all the red tape in a hurry.
 
Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Fast meaning fast neutrons? These have been previously shunned because of the potential to make bomb type material. My nuclear science professor was a big fan of these because they make more useful fuel than they consume.



Yes. In theory, this unit could be used (we don't know enough about the design to say whether it is part of the intended purpose or not) as a breeder to then allow for a creation of a MOX that could then be run in the CANDU unit next to it.

I am guessing we'll know more details once some of the development work is out of the way.
 
Originally Posted By: andyd
Yah-Tah-Hey, Wabbout the mess at Hanford WA? Nuke neutral here. France is heavily invested in nukes. Good track record. How do they handle waste?


France reprocesses all the nuclear waste from Europe IIRC.
 
Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Originally Posted By: andyd
Yah-Tah-Hey, Wabbout the mess at Hanford WA? Nuke neutral here. France is heavily invested in nukes. Good track record. How do they handle waste?

Hanford? Isnt that where they intentionally released so they could test a theory that they would then be able to find Russian nuke sites and in the process irradiated everyone living nearby?




Run a search on “downwinders”. Lots of junk to wallow through but in the end a large number of people were affected.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
There's been some recent development and commitment on the SMR reactor front, most of it in Ontario where the government is supporting, through extensive federal funding, the development and testing of Advanced SMR reactors at the former Chalk River experimental reactor location. While great news for those in the Nuclear industry, it is still a long road ahead before designs are agreed on, a plan finalized, and something is actually built and operated.

However, there appears to be a game-changing announcement for the little province of New Brunswick, which has the only operating Nuclear reactor in Canada outside of Ontario (which has 18) as it is partnering with ARC Nuclear to potentially build, license and distribute a relatively mature design tested in Idaho. This is a sodium cooled fast-reactor Small Modular unit with a 100MWe capacity. The intention is to develop a standardized design of which the initial unit will be built at the existing NB Power Point Lepreau single CANDU site for testing purposes and then that design will be formerly commercialized and deployed to other build sites across Canada.

More info here:
Business Wire article

Pretty exciting news. One of the main purposes of this activity is to develop a technology that can be reliably deployed in remote locations with no grid access. Additional uses include central heating for northern communities as well as the ability to run mining operations and their auxiliary components.


If the EBR-II reactor has been operating successfully in Idaho for 30 years, why aren't there more of those in the USA?
 
Originally Posted By: Yah-Tah-Hey
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
This is good news. Hopefully the have a lot less red tape and regulation getting this done than the Americans.

Can you imagine a new Nuclear plant being built in America today and the nashing of teeth that would go along with it?
Three Mile Island scared the tin foil hat crowd so badly that even the mention of nuclear power causes their eyeballs to cage and spastic shaking like even the mention of the subject causes radiation poisoning. Only way to go. The taxpayers need to start seeing the utilization of Yucca Mountain which is as safe as mankind can make it.


It's nice to see that somebody else remembers the existence of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage facility. It was all but forgotten by the national press during the Obama years.
 
Maybe those who oppose nuclear energy should be taxed more for heating and electricity?
Put their money where their mouth is....
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
There's been some recent development and commitment on the SMR reactor front, most of it in Ontario where the government is supporting, through extensive federal funding, the development and testing of Advanced SMR reactors at the former Chalk River experimental reactor location. While great news for those in the Nuclear industry, it is still a long road ahead before designs are agreed on, a plan finalized, and something is actually built and operated.

However, there appears to be a game-changing announcement for the little province of New Brunswick, which has the only operating Nuclear reactor in Canada outside of Ontario (which has 18) as it is partnering with ARC Nuclear to potentially build, license and distribute a relatively mature design tested in Idaho. This is a sodium cooled fast-reactor Small Modular unit with a 100MWe capacity. The intention is to develop a standardized design of which the initial unit will be built at the existing NB Power Point Lepreau single CANDU site for testing purposes and then that design will be formerly commercialized and deployed to other build sites across Canada.

More info here:
Business Wire article

Pretty exciting news. One of the main purposes of this activity is to develop a technology that can be reliably deployed in remote locations with no grid access. Additional uses include central heating for northern communities as well as the ability to run mining operations and their auxiliary components.


If the EBR-II reactor has been operating successfully in Idaho for 30 years, why aren't there more of those in the USA?


Fast reactors fell out of favour when Uranium prices tanked, making their higher cost of enriched fuel unattractive. In the last couple of decades, the climate for new build Nuclear in the US hasn't been great either, which explains why perhaps that design is being explored here, not there. China has been building quite a few nukes and Japan is going to start building more shortly as well.
 
Originally Posted By: Smokescreen
Glad it's out there and not near where I live...


Alberta (along with the other western provinces) is participating in the SMR programme here in Ontario.

I live within an hour of 10 CANDU reactors, doesn't bother me in the least.
 
Yucca Mtn is OK, but the real good disposal site is the Abyssal Plain in the north Pacific. Glassify, mix with concrete, fill shipping container, seal the doors. Drop overboard into 15,000 ft of cold water and 500 ft of soft mud that will take geologic time to migrate anywhere near the NA Continent. Could literally drop all the waste in the world into the ooze and never look back.

Problem is to get a treaty allowing it to be done. International waters, so ...
 
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