TORONTO — Ontario-based BWXT Canada has been selected to fabricate two microreactors for what the Ford government calls Canada’s first transportable nuclear power plant, a 50-megawatt Indigenous-led pilot in Belledune, N.B., Energy Minister Stephen Lecce said Monday.The units are BWXT’s Advanced Nuclear Reactor, and the company said they would be principally built at its Ontario facilities, with Kinectrics, a BWXT-owned firm, on the engineering and supply chain. Prodigy Clean Energy is designing the plant to be factory-built, shipped and installed in a targeted 18 months. Lecce announced the pick with René Legacy, New Brunswick’s deputy premier and energy minister. The province said the pilot would supply power for up to 40,000 homes, create more than 150 jobs during development and support about 40 positions once it is running..Pabineau First Nation and Eel River Bar First Nation are leading the project on their traditional territory, with a First Nations-owned station and an energy campus planned for Belledune.BWXT and Prodigy said they are still working toward a definitive agreement on development, licensing, financing and deployment. No price was given.Nuclear already supplies about 50% of Ontario’s electricity, and the Independent Electricity System Operator says demand could rise by as much as 90% by 2050.Lecce tied the announcement to the Darlington refurbishment and what he called the G7’s first grid-scale small modular reactor, and said the nuclear buildout would create 150,000 jobs and add $800 billion to the Canadian economy.
