NUCLEAR PROMISE | SMRS & ADVANCED REACTORS


at the TVA, reminded delegates of the difficulties of repurposing, including the highly distinct requirements and conditions for coal and nuclear sites. Public acceptance cannot be taken for granted either, even in communities with populations desperate for new economic activity and familiar with risky industries. The question haunting the 2022 conference was that


of leadership: who is to move first and commit to an SMR project? A year later, Canada, with supply chains in shape – largely thanks to the recent and ongoing refurbishments – had consolidated its role as a potential leader of yet another promised nuclear renaissance in the West. “The world is looking to Canada!,” exclaimed Brian Fehrenbach, Director of Business Development at the Organisation Canadian Nuclear Industries (OCNI). More accurate might be to say that all eyes are on Ontario, where OPG is to construct a first-of-a-kind GE Hitachi BWRX-300 SMR at its Darlington nuclear site, with the expected completion date of 2028. The announced timetable has not slipped, yet. Empirical evidence on costs and feasibility, based on this project, were to precede any commitment to a wider SMR programme, yet in July 2023, the Ontario provincial government jumped the gun, by confirming OPG’s plan to build three additional BWRX-300s on the same site. SaskPower is eagerly waiting for cost experience from the OPG, to decide in 2029 whether to follow suit and launch the construction of four BWRX-300s. Most of the leading SMR designs may be foreign,


especially American, but the Canadian government’s commitment to nuclear is arguably stronger than ever. The policy frameworks and collaborative networks (SMR Roadmap, Action Plan, strategic plan, and feasibility study) are there, laying the basis for the three “streams” of SMR development – light-water SMRs for grid electricity, advanced designs mainly for industrial heat and power, and micro-SMRs for off-grid uses in remote communities. But have the Canadians learned from past policy


failures? Has the country left behind its policy tradition that political scientists Michael Howlett and Andrea Migone have characterised as one of “overpromising and underdelivering”? Are the supportive discourse, creation of networks, and relatively modest financial support simply just another way of “kicking the can down the road” rather than a determined strategy? Sceptics predict a similar fate for SMRs as that which befell the nearly mythical Arrow aircraft carrier, supposed to consolidate Canadian technological leadership in the 1950s. The then Prime Minister Diefenbaker abruptly stopped the vast technology programme in 1959, arguing that rapid changes in geopolitics and technology had made Arrow obsolete. According to rumours, pressure from Americans unwilling to face competition from their northern neighbour was a vital contributing factor. The SMR promise will end like the Arrow did, critics argue: the Americans will, in the end, snatch the markets and put the Canadians back to their place.


SMRs: A stepping stone back to megaprojects? For many in the nuclear community, the SMR promise appears increasingly as an instrument, a stepping stone on the way back to constructing large reactors, rather than an end in and of itself. Last year in Atlanta an entire session, chaired by OCNI’s Fehrenbach, explored the relationships between SMRs and large nuclear reactors. While the legitimacy of the SMR promise has thus far largely relied


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on the notion that nuclear megaprojects are just too risky, costly, and slow, SMRs are now often portrayed as a useful, if not indispensable, bridge towards large reactor projects. As presumably safer, cheaper, and multifunctional, SMRs could help to overcome the public opposition and scepticism that has handicapped large nuclear projects, so the arguement goes. Moreover, the SMR promise helps to keep nuclear in the headlines, attract talent, and retain the skills and competences needed for the construction of large reactors – a line of reasoning particularly valid in Canada, with its home-grown CANDU knowhow and well-established nuclear institutions. Finally, enthusiasm for SMRs is partly motivated by defence interests, as highlighted by policymakers and nuclear-sector insiders. Beyond the value of the SMRs as a “stepping stone”,


the rather vague overall SMR promise serves various constituencies, regardless of the actual success of any specific design. By declaring their support and providing funding for R&D into SMRs, politicians can show they are acting upon the climate and energy security challenges; the R&D community benefits from new challenges and funding opportunities; and investors can make a quick buck by speculating on the stocks of SMR companies. Vendor start-ups may be among the few for whom the success of their chosen SMR design is decisive. The instrumental value of SMRs might help explain the contradiction between the rather pessimistic evaluations of the potential economic viability of SMRs on the one hand, and the growing enthusiasm towards these technologies in the policy world on the other. What counts may not be the viability of the technology itself but instead the value that the promise itself can provide, in various ways, to the diverse involved communities. ■


Below: The Westinghouse AP-300 was the 2023 showcase in Atlanta Source: Westinghouse


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