More taxpayers’ aid is needed to meet climate change targets, according to the CEO of a company that received a $27.2 million subsidy for small nuclear reactors..According to Blacklock's Reporter, to date, the Department of Industry has spent $97.7 million on miniature reactors, though none are actually in use..“Federal support will continue to be critical if we are to put Canada at the forefront of this emerging technology,” Edouard Saab, president of Westinghouse Electric Canada, testified at the House of Commons science committee. “We as a country, you as elected officials, us as members of industry, must work together,” he added..“We have a very high comfort the technology will be ready before 2030,” testified Saab. “The truth is we already have the electrical demonstration unit up and running.”.The industry department last March 17 approved the $27.2 million to Westinghouse to build a functioning prototype. The subsidy “is a small fraction of what is required to move forward,” said Saab..Cabinet also approved subsidies to two other companies to build a functioning micro reactor: $50.5 million to Moltex Energy Canada Inc. in Saint John, New Brunswick, and $20 million to Terrestrial Energy Inc. in Oakville, Ontario..The Department of Industry has targeted development of small modular reactors the size of shipping containers to fuel remote Arctic hamlets that rely on diesel generators for electricity. “What we are developing is a nuclear battery, essentially,” said Saab..The units would have a lifespan of eight years, said Saab. “At the end of the eight years, should they not require another one, the whole unit as is can be taken back.”.Other witnesses at the science committee questioned the feasibility of mini reactors. “In the past two years the government has given almost $100 million to three private nuclear companies for research to develop their small modular reactor designs,” testified Dr. Susan O’Donnell, a University of New Brunswick researcher and retired senior research officer with the National Research Council..“Experts not funded by the nuclear industry have identified many potential problems.”.“Building a factory to manufacture micro small modular reactors cannot be justified,” said O’Donnell. “Why? Because the total energy needed to replace diesel in all the remote communities in Canada is so small a factory would never pay for itself.”.Dr. Christopher Keefer, president of Canadians for Nuclear Energy, said the country will require full scale CANDU reactors if climate change targets are to be met. “We need to assess in a technologically neutral manner what is working and has worked for Canada,” said Keefer..“We simply don’t have enough rivers to dam,” said Keefer. “We need to double our electric grid apparently in order to achieve our net zero goals and that’s going to require the addition of something like 113 Site C dams or the equivalent of 96 large CANDU reactors.”
