Hurdles need to be cleared before it’s a viable option
Saskatchewan would be in a position to cash in should its government be serious about exploring nuclear power in the form of small modular reactors.
his past summer, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and the premiers of Ontario and New Brunswick signed a memorandum of understanding “to collaborate on the development and deployment of innovative, versatile and scalable” small modular reactors (SMRs).
This means that if Canada introduces SMRs to its energy mix, it will need to import enriched uranium to make SMR fuel or purchase the finished fuel from other countries.
Studying SMRs
The enrichment process of uranium processed in Saskatchewan is accomplished outside of Canada. Approximately 90-95 per cent of SMRs that are emerging are fuelled by enriched uranium.
“How ironic it would be that our high-grade uranium is exported from Saskatchewan as raw material, enriched abroad and then re-imported as SMR fuel at greatly increased value,” Esam Hussein, P.Eng., Dean of Engineering at the University Regina, said in a recent opinion column in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.
“It would be a lost opportunity for new economic activity and jobs in Canada.”
Hussein, who reviewed about 100 SMR designs and found the vast majority require enriched uranium to operate, added there definitely will be a market for the enriched uranium. Should Canada move in that direction, Hussein made the point that relying on other countries to supply our source would be counter-productive.
Saskatchewan is home to the world’s largest high-grade deposits of natural uranium in the Athabasca Basin. Less than one per cent of natural uranium is a fissionable isotope, uranium-235, while the remainder is mostly uranium-238, which is not immediately able to produce energy.
Hussein, also a member of the Canadian Nuclear Society and the American Nuclear Society, says the province is slowly moving in the right direction with regards to nuclear energy. Yet challenges persist.
Challenges ahead
Public perception, licensing and proving small modular reactors that are cost-effective are hurdles that need to be cleared before serious momentum can be established.
As a graduate student at McMaster University in Hamilton, Hussein spent four years studying and conducting research in a nuclear reactor that sat in the middle of campus.
It was the first university-based research and has been the highest-flux research reactor in Canada since the closing of the National Research Universal reactor in Chalk River in 2018.
“There were no issues. No concerns. I think that’s because people became familiar with it,” Hussein said.
That’s not to say concerns don’t exist elsewhere.
“We have to respect the public’s perception,” he said. “Perception may not always be based on facts, however. The risk can be very personal for some and can be very subjective. We all know that driving a car can cause deaths, but that doesn’t stop us from getting up in the morning and driving to work.”
In terms of licensing, it’s a new technology and faces a steep incline.
“It might be more expensive to license it than it would be to build a reactor,” he said. “This is simply because the regulator wants to make sure it is safe. If an accident happens, the reactor can shut down safely and damage can be contained. We have to be able to demonstrate that, but we can’t demonstrate it by building reactors. We’d have to build simulators instead.”
As for the SMRs, Hussein said the small and the reactor labels aren’t new. However, it’s the modular part the is ambiguous and unclear.
“There are people who argue it’s effective and will save construction time and will save cost, while others argue that this view is very simplistic and has to be proven,” he said. “When you assemble components, they have to work in harmony and have to be matching. Unless we can prove it can save time and cost, there’s really no point in going modular.”
Environmental impact
However, Hussein sees a role for nuclear energy in our future especially because it’s environmentally friendly and produces incredibly low greenhouse gas emissions. It would align neatly with Saskatchewan’s other resources and new energy development.
“The least we can do is conduct a study to determine the economic, environmental and social sustainability of an endeavour to enrich uranium and fabricate uranium fuel, considering modern enrichment technologies.”
Lithium exploration in Saskatchewan is poised for big business with the construction of Prairie Lithium in the southwest. Wind and solar energy are making significant strides as well. Could nuclear energy be next?
”The advantage of nuclear is the low greenhouse gas emission, which it shares with wind and solar. The bigger advantage is that it provides va baseload that is independent of weather conditions and provides stability. The stability is very important because most resource systems so far have been designed to have a central supplier and a distribution system. In essence, it’s a one-way street.”
- Esam Hussein, P.Eng.,
Dean of Engineering at the University Regina
“To deal with our climate change challenge, we need all the help we can get,” Hussein said. “Each technology adds something, but they also come with their own challenges.”
The recent statement by the three provincial premiers is a recognition of the potential for SMRs to improve the environment while stimulating additional social and economic benefits. This will, however, require re-examination of the prospect for enriching uranium domestically.
If economically feasible, uranium enrichment and fabrication of SMR fuel could become a new industry in Saskatchewan, while enhancing Canada’s energy independence and reliability.
“I would like more emerging engineers to realize our role as engineers is more than technical,” Hussein concluded. “We need to understand new technology in general and convey our understanding to the public … on the other hand, we learn how to accept the public apprehension. Everything we do affects quality of life. We need to convey that and learn how to covey that … and that includes nuclear technology and all technologies.”