The role of Canada’s nuclear regulator is to protect people from risk, not get in the way of progress.

In an era of rapid innovation, regulating the use of nuclear energy and materials to protect health, safety, security and the environment makes the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) more crucial than ever before. Rumina Velshi, President and CEO, tells us more.

Is nuclear a viable path to reaching Canada’s net zero targets by 2050?

It’s certainly been a topic of interest – including at COP26. There is a growing understanding that to meet net zero goals, nuclear will need to play a larger role. In Canada, some reports are forecasting that our country’s installed nuclear capacity will increase significantly. Whatever that increase might be, we know that the nuclear industry of the future is going to look very different as Canada pursues its net zero targets. A daunting but exciting task, indeed.

Regulators have a reputation of being roadblocks – Is the CNSC a barrier to innovation?

The CNSC welcomes innovation. Our role is clear: we must be ready for – and open to – innovative solutions while never losing sight of our commitment to safety and security. We will never compromise safety. But our role is to protect people from risk, not to hinder progress.

Innovation happens faster than the pace of change – how is the CNSC getting ready to regulate?

We closely monitor the headwinds regarding the future role of nuclear energy. This ensures we are in a state of readiness to effectively regulate new technologies such as small modular reactors (SMRs) while making certain that licensees are adhering to the strict regulations set out by the CNSC. We know innovators want to deploy quickly because the stakes are high – climate change and energy security are critical issues. To that end, we have modernized our regulatory framework to be performance-based, instead of prescriptive. Technology developers can familiarize themselves with our licensing and regulatory process. Our pre-licensing Vendor Design Review provides vendors with early feedback on compliance of their design and design processes with Canadian requirements.

As countries shift attention to nuclear as a solution to address climate change, what needs to be done on a global scale?

If the predicted number of new nuclear plants becomes a reality, we need to have a modern global framework for international governance, collaboration and technical support. That’s the best way to ensure the safe and efficient development and global deployment of innovative nuclear technologies. I happen to be Chair of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Commission on Safety Standards, which is an international body responsible for establishing standards relevant to nuclear, radiation, transport and waste safety, and emergency preparedness and response. I can therefore assure you that nuclear safety is a shared goal for all countries. There is much to be done and the CNSC is ready to take the lead on enabling innovation through global harmonization.

How can Canadians get engaged?

The CNSC is committed to transparency and to creating a healthy safety culture. Commission proceedings are fully accessible to the public. In fact, we encourage anyone who is interested to watch these live webcasts, attend our information sessions (digital and in-person), and learn about what we do by reading our website and following us on social media.

Public trust is critical. We want and need Canadians to have confidence in our actions and decisions, which keep workers, the environment and the public safe. We continue to look for ways not only to strengthen public trust but also to advance reconciliation with Indigenous Nations and communities. For us, building trust is as important as technical competency.

Any final thoughts?

This industry has been a part of our lives for decades. It provides Canadians with everything from cancer treatments to electricity generation. And the key to it all is safety. The CNSC oversees every current application of nuclear in Canada – and it will bring that same rigor and vigilance to the regulation of new technologies. The Commission will only approve the licencing of a project once it is satisfied that it is safe to the public and the environment. We will never compromise safety.

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Phillip is the Director of the NII Explore program at the Nuclear Innovation Institute in Port Elgin, Ontario.

A hefty dose of fatalism sets in after a while in any conversation about climate change.

Whether it’s disagreements over technology types in the push to net zero, a lack of globally unified government leadership, or the sheer scale of transformation that needs to happen if we’re to prevent the worst effects of climate change — this can be a hard subject to stay positive about.

But how are we shielding our children from all that negativity?

In short, we’re not.

A global study in The Lancet found that nearly 60 per cent of young people feel very or extremely worried about climate change, reporting that respondents felt “betrayal” from governmental responses more than reassurance.

So, where do we go from here?

Clean energy, carbon emissions — and fluffy yellow ducks?

I often think about what kind of world my children will grow up in — and about how I can talk to them or any young person about the realities of climate change without making it too scary or overwhelming.

So, when an opportunity arose last year to collaborate with North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN) on a book about climate change geared toward younger children, I jumped at the chance.

Titled Passing Gas: How Clean Energy Makes the World Less Smelly, the book’s rhymes guide readers through the causes and effects of carbon emissions — seen through the eyes of fluffy yellow ducks who are simply trying to keep the world clean.

But greenhouse gases — which are “tooted” into the atmosphere from natural gas, coal, and oil power plants — are making this difficult, which prompts a choir of ducks to respond:

Complete with leveled questions for further discussion at home or in the classroom, the book is geared toward children from preschool to grade six.

Look for the helpers

When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’

Fred Rogers

For this year’s Nuclear Science Week (October 17-21), we’re celebrating the positive benefits that nuclear energy brings to those in our communities, our neighbourhoods — and beyond.

I grew up on the closest dairy farm to the largest nuclear generating station in North America. Nuclear power has always been in my neighbourhood, and my hope — the reason I wrote this book — is that children will take Mr. Rogers’ advice and look for climate change helpers in their own community.

Here in Bruce County, those helpers are parents, friends and neighbours who work in the nuclear industry. Providing more than 60 percent of Ontario’s clean energy, nuclear power is a key tool as we work towards lowering our carbon emissions.

Combining factual information with funny rhymes and some mild bathroom humour, my goal with this book is to bring STEM education, environmental awareness and a bit of hope to the youngest climate anxious among us.

The post Look for the Helpers: Conversations with Climate-Anxious Kids appeared first on HiveInnovates.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is taking an innovative, industry-leading approach to the safe, long-term management of nuclear waste.

Nuclear fuel has powered Canadian communities for decades. As a low-carbon energy source, it’s increasingly being sought by governments to help fight climate change — the Government of Canada has made it clear that there’s no credible path to net-zero energy by 2050 without nuclear in the mix.

Yet whenever the topic of nuclear comes up, someone inevitably asks about the “problem” of waste. The reality is that all energy sources create waste. Fossil fuels enter the atmosphere and industrial waste goes to landfill. In fact, nuclear is the only energy industry that manages its waste throughout its entire lifecycle.

While once thought of as a barrier, today managing that waste is an industry success story. Nuclear waste is safely stored now and there’s international scientific consensus about how to safely manage it over the very long term.

Canada’s plan solves the problem today, instead of passing it on to future generations.

Investing in our future

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is responsible for implementing Canada’s plan for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel. Headed by Laurie Swami, one of only three women CEOs in the Canadian nuclear industry, the NWMO is planning to build a deep geological repository that uses a series of engineered and natural barriers to contain and isolate used nuclear fuel. While used nuclear fuel is currently being safely stored at above-ground facilities, this approach is widely recognized as being inappropriate over the long term.

“Canada’s plan solves the problem today, instead of passing it on to future generations,” says Swami. “This is one of the key priorities we hear from Canadians and Indigenous peoples when seeking input on our work.”

Canada’s plan represents a $26-billion environmental infrastructure project over its 150-year lifecycle. That means investments across the country, including significant contributions in the siting areas, as well as many high-value jobs in the short term and into the next century.

A progressive approach to partnership

One of the NWMO’s key commitments is that it will only proceed in an area with informed and willing hosts, where the municipality, First Nation and Métis communities, and others in the area are working together to implement Canada’s plan.

“We’ve only worked in regions where a community voluntarily expressed interest in exploring their potential to host the project,” says Swami. “Twenty-two communities raised their hands. It was nothing short of extraordinary.”

Through progressive social and technical studies, that list was narrowed down to the Ignace area and South Bruce, both in Ontario. The NWMO expects to select a site in 2023. By actively collaborating with local leaders and interested citizens, the NWMO is taking an industry-leading, consent-based approach to exploring partnerships and willingness.

Building a foundation of respect

Innovation is truly at the core of the NWMO’s work. The organization is using best-in-class environmental practices and Indigenous knowledge to ensure that the project protects people and the environment, essentially indefinitely. And by interweaving cutting-edge western science with Indigenous knowledge, the project is setting new standards for research, community engagement, and Indigenous collaboration.

“Listening to Indigenous peoples has always been key to our work, and in 2019 we took an important step forward by formalizing our reconciliation policy,” says Swami.

That meant developing an annual implementation plan to measure and publicly report on its reconciliation journey, which is building a foundation of recognition and respect through ongoing educational opportunities. The NWMO continues to travel this path with Indigenous peoples, with strong guidance from a Council of Elders and Youth.

Now, based on its experience implementing Canada’s plan, the NWMO has been asked by the federal government to develop an integrated strategy that addresses any remaining gaps in plans for other radioactive waste streams — specifically, some of Canada’s low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste. While this waste is all safely managed today, some of it still requires plans for the very long term.

The NWMO is breaking new ground, both figuratively and literally, and playing a vital role in environmental stewardship. It’s exciting to see such a world-leading example right here in Canada.

The post An Innovative and Collaborative Approach to Dealing with Nuclear Waste appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Cutting-edge innovations by nuclear energy leader GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy power up Canada’s leadership in carbon-free technology.

Climate change is an urgent global priority, and nuclear energy will play a major role in helping Canada and the rest of the world reach its net-zero carbon emissions goals. GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), which has more than six decades of experience designing and deploying nuclear reactor technologies, is delivering game-changing innovation with the introduction of its small modular reactor (SMR).

This technology has the potential for a wide range of applications including the generation of non-emitting reliable electricity, process heat, hydrogen production and powering remote communities. Several provinces are actively pursuing SMRs, and the first one in Canada could be operational in as early as 2028.

“We’re very excited about the potential of these reactors because the modular design allows for faster construction schedules through advancements in fabrication,” says Lisa McBride, Canada SMR Country Leader GEH. “The speed in which we can get to market enables large-scale deployment in a time that is meaningful for attaining our climate goals.”

With our nuclear operating expertise and infrastructure project experience, Canada is well-positioned to become a carbon-free technology export powerhouse.

Clean energy: helping power the world

Canada has long been a global leader in nuclear research and technology and in exporting reactor systems, but the world is at an energy turning point. Countries recognize the need for safe, clean, and reliable sources of energy that are flexible to meet diverse needs. “While Ontario and Canada are poised to support the development and deployment of SMRs, the bigger opportunity is for Canada to support the world’s energy transition,” says McBride. “With our nuclear operating expertise and infrastructure project experience, Canada is well-positioned to become a carbon-free technology export powerhouse.”

The federal government estimates that the global SMR market will be worth $150 billion annually by 2040. PwC estimates that each made-in-Canada SMR deployed globally will generate approximately $98 million in GDP for Canada and more than $45 million in total tax revenue through the purchase of nuclear fuel, machinery, and equipment.

Modular reactors: next-generation technology

Innovative SMR technology includes designs that have a combination of features that address public concerns about cost and safety. In addition, the various designs consider the needs of residents, whether in dense cities and suburban areas or in rural areas and remote areas with no access to an electric grid.

SMRs are also designed to be passively safe, utilizing natural circulation and passive cooling systems to cool themselves without power or operator action for extended periods.

McBride adds that now is the time to work with partners in government, industry, and academia who think globally to seize the opportunity that’s waiting. GEH is a leader in scaling energy innovation globally — GE technology generates 30 percent of the world’s power — and by supporting SMRs, we can play a key role in reinvigorating Canada’s post-COVID manufacturing economy.

“The nuclear future is bright for Canada, and especially Ontario,” says McBride. “Advancements of time-tested nuclear technologies are poised to bring new levels of affordable, carbon-free, and reliable energy to our homes, industries, and commercial buildings.”

The post How One Company is Helping Canada Lead the Energy Transition appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Martin Porter

Secretary General, World Nuclear Transport Institute

Since its formation in 1998, the World Nuclear Transport Institute has developed practices to safely, securely, reliably, and efficiently transport radioactive materials.

“Recently, the World Nuclear Transport Institute (WNTI) scope has broadened to have demonstrable alignment to sustainability. New and novel work in support of transportable nuclear power plants, with their various applications, clearly shows WNTI members’ commitment to contribute to the nuclear industry goal of being central to a net-zero carbon future,” says Martin Porter, Secretary General at the WNTI.

The 2050 net-zero emissions target cannot be met without nuclear power. Transportable nuclear power plants, including those being developed by WNTI members, will be an essential element in providing green energy to all communities.

The nuclear renaissance

Traditionally, large-scale nuclear sites with high-capacity nuclear plants have been used to generate electricity for national networks. While this ensures a source of power to large populations, it also means that remote regions cannot be served unless hundreds of miles of power cables are installed. Often, these remote locations use fossil fuels to generate power.

There’s a need for smaller-scale nuclear plants that can serve remote regions or specific industrial applications, and the development of small modular reactors (SMRs) is now gaining pace.

Rapid deployment and disaster relief

SMRs can be factory-built, using modular designs and production lines, thus reducing costs. Delivered to the site of operation, more modules can be added to meet future energy demands.

Some SMRs are delivered in a turnkey state, meaning that they’re ready for immediate use.

SMRs have many applications, including:

1. Electricity generation
2. Production of green hydrogen
3. Heating for communities
4. Industrial heating for steel, paper, and cement production
5. Desalination of sea water to produce clean drinking water

SMRs are also well-suited to provide humanitarian aid and relief when a region is hit by a disaster. A containerized SMR can be rapidly transported to restore electricity, fresh drinking water, and heating.

Building on strong foundations

Different types of nuclear technologies are used in SMR designs. Some use modern developments of pressurized water reactors (PWRs), while others use alternate nuclear technologies such as molten salt reactors (MSRs).

PWRs have been used for many years, both for large-scale energy generation and for propulsion in naval vessels. This technology has high levels of safety-engineered into the plant to guarantee its safe operation.

MSRs incorporate safety by design. This means that the reactor will always return itself to a safe state should there be a problem. These designs cannot meltdown as the already-molten nuclear material inside will simply solidify if the reactor encounters a problem. By failing into a safe mode, all the radioactive material is locked into a solid, rock-like state.

Green energy — using less space and no waste

Unlike solar and wind power, SMRs don’t need much space. They can also be sited on floating platforms, thus further reducing the amount of land needed for the site. This makes them ideal for small island states where there’s a growing demand for sustainable, green energy.

Transporting and operating SMRs — security by design

The material in an MSR cannot be used to cause a nuclear explosion. It’s a different material from that used in nuclear weapons. Add to this all the physical barriers and safeguards that are built into the designs of all SMRs and the risks are reduced to a safe, manageable level. Throughout the lifecycle of an SMR, from initial construction until decommissioning and recycling, there are always sufficient safeguards in place.

The transportation of SMRs does pose some new challenges. Secure routes need to be established to ensure that the threats from terrorists are carefully mitigated. Weather routing and avoiding other navigational hazards must be incorporated into passage plans. It’s also vital to engage with the governments and populations of coastal communities to reassure them. The WNTI can support and inform such dialogue.

The post Delivering Nuclear Power to Achieve a Sustainable Environment appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Mediaplanet spoke with Tracy Primeau about the opportunities in Canada’s nuclear industry, working with Indigenous communities, and more.

What initially sparked your interest in the nuclear industry? 

I grew up in the town of Tiverton, Ont., which is where the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station is situated and where my father started working in 1971 as a mechanic. I had zero desire to work in the nuclear industry, although I was always good at math and science. I had a dream of being a high school history teacher. I was fortunate enough to try working with high school students and decided that it wasn’t for me and I took the tests for the nuclear operator job, passed them and was given an offer .

So, I ended up having a different dream that someday I wanted to work in the control room and be an authorized nuclear operator. My father had encouraged me to apply to operations and the combination of family influence and a love of science drove this decision. I sort of ended up being a teacher anyway, teaching operators and shift supervisors, and it ended up becoming a big part of my job. To this day, I’m still taking on a mentor and teacher role, which I absolutely love.

What is a challenge in your career that you’ve faced as a woman and how did you overcome it?

Women weren’t allowed to work in nuclear plants until the 1980s. I worked with an authorized nuclear operator who refused to have women on his unit and a shift manager who refused to have women on his crew.

At the time, I was married and didn’t have kids yet. I could out-swear anybody and was very much one of the guys. I grew up in Bruce County, so I could hold my beer and talk hockey as well. That worked for me until I got pregnant with my first child, and all of a sudden they realized that I wasn’t one of the guys and they started to treat me differently. I also realized that I was trying to hard to “fit in” ­— I was who I was, and everyone was going to have to deal with it.

I was the first woman to ever enter the control room as an authorized nuclear operator at the Bruce A Nuclear Generating Station. When I got there, I brought some colour — my work boots were pink, my nails were always done, and I had a little heel in my boot. I came to the understanding that there’s no fitting in, you can only be yourself. As long as you have integrity and you remain true to yourself, you’ll be fine. Not only will you be happier, but you’ll be more respected. As I moved into the Shift Manager and other leadership roles, this continued to be my anchor.

Why do you think it’s important to encourage young women to get involved in Canada’s nuclear industry?

There’s a nuclear renaissance happening — we have small modular reactors and new isotopes being developed, and the technology itself is growing by leaps and bounds. There are job opportunities not just in Ontario and New Brunswick anymore, but Canada-wide and globally.

The opportunities are great and there’s a shortage of workers. Do you want to go into nuclear engineering, health physics, or radiation physics, or do you want to be an electrician or a carpenter? There are opportunities for every single one of those in multiple places. Aside from the abundance of opportunities, these are well-paying jobs and the opportunities for promotion are great in the nuclear world.

Finally, it’s important work for the future of our planet. If you want your work to be meaningful, and I think most people do, it’s not just about a paycheque. You’re coming into an industry that’s fighting climate change. You’re doing something that means something to the world.

How can leaders in Canada’s nuclear energy industry respect and advance reconciliation with Indigenous communities?

In my opinion, economic reconciliation is where we make the biggest difference. Additionally, collaborating and partnering with a First Nations community where everyone is committed and everyone benefits is another great way to work on reconciliation. A subset of collaboration is employment. Set a target or create a program where you aim to hire a certain percentage of Indigenous employees by a certain time.

This should be embedded in every part of your company — it can’t just be the Indigenous Relations or HR team that’s thinking about this. Collaborating with Indigenous communities should be on your mind in everything you do. Indigenous people are bringing knowledge to every conversation, especially around climate change, that you may not have thought of because you didn’t come from the same background as they did.

In your opinion, do you think that we can get to net zero without nuclear? 

Someday, maybe, but not by 2050. Net zero needs baseload, and there’s no better baseload that doesn’t emit CO2 than nuclear, except for hydroelectric. But we’re running out of water — we don’t have lots of undiscovered dams, and climate change is going to affect hydroelectric more and more, whether the water is low or high. With nuclear, we can build the baseload and we know exactly how many megawatts it’ll put on the grid all the time. Does it need to work with wind, solar, and other renewables? Absolutely. But these renewables come and go with the weather. We can store some of it, but not enough to get to net zero by 2050. This simply isn’t possible without nuclear.

The post Q&A with Industry Icon Tracy Primeau on Mentorship and Opportunities in Nuclear appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Mediaplanet chatted with Darryl Spector, President of Promation, about Canada’s world-leading nuclear industry, its recent innovations, and where it’s headed.

Why is nuclear energy necessary to help us combat climate change?  

There simply is no path to net zero without nuclear. Although it’s true that other green technologies, such as energy from other generation sources such as wind, solar, tidal, and so on, are evolving rapidly and that their costs are dropping as the technology and supply chain evolves, it’s not there yet and is still decades away from being pervasive enough to displace the existing carbon-based baseload energy supply options around the world. Nuclear is still — and will likely remain so for many years to come — the only reliable, large-scale, low-carbon pervasive baseload energy supply option. This fact is understood and echoed by the majority of the world’s leading climate scientists and stakeholders.

How is Canada ensuring that nuclear power is a safe means of generating electricity? 

Canada’s nuclear industry enjoys a world-leading safety record, thanks in part to operating under one of the most rigorous and globally-respected regulatory agencies and frameworks, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). The CNSC mandates and monitors an extremely regimented threshold of compliance standards that all Canadian nuclear operators must comply with on a routine basis. The CNSC operates as a federally-regulated agency, and as such, operates at an arm’s length from the nuclear industry to provide reliable oversight, much like the agencies that oversee safety and quality compliance for the aerospace or automotive sector, or for the elevators that we use every day.  

In addition, the Canadian nuclear industry operates on the clear principles of safety first — without question — and has established an extremely robust safety and compliance culture that models the best-in-class behaviours and practices from around the world through organizations such as the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), amongst which Canada repeatedly ranks amongst the top.

What emerging trends and innovations in Canada’s nuclear industry are you most excited about? 

The immediate one that comes to mind — and likely the least appreciated but the most relevant to the everyday public — is the profound advancements in the area of nuclear medicine. Canada is quickly becoming a global leader in the adoption and large scale-up production of critical, life-saving radiopharmaceutical medical isotopes for both diagnostic and therapeutic benefits. Cobalt-60 (⁶⁰Co) for example, has been produced in Canadian nuclear utility reactors for decades, yet this isn’t well-known, and over 40 percent of the world’s single-use medical devices have been sterilized using ⁶⁰Co produced in Canadian reactors! More recently, we’ve made huge advancements in Lutetium-177 (Lu-177) and Molybdenum-99 (Moly-99), allowing their production to be scaled up substantially at an industrial level that will elevate Canada’s role as a world-leading major global exporter of these life-saving medicines. This will directly result in saving thousands of lives that we would’ve otherwise lost to prostate cancer (Lu-177) or heart disease (Moly-99). These deaths can be avoided by amazing advances in treatment and early detection.

The other one that people may be more aware of is the advancements in the area of small modular reactors (SMRs), which have been around for decades in research reactors, or more commonly in nuclear-powered submarines. In the past decade, we’ve seen exponential advancements in the development of commercially-viable and scalable deployment cases for SMRs around the world. Additionally, Canada’s licensing framework to enable the development of a prudent and rigorous framework is seen globally as being industry-leading, which has attracted the focus of many internationally-based SMR players, in addition to homegrown initiatives. Again, many leading climate scientists and political policy leaders acknowledge the critical role that SMRs will play in the climate solution in the coming years and decades.

Where do you see Canada’s nuclear energy industry headed? 

Canada’s nuclear energy industry will continue to play a foundational role in providing low-cost, reliable, clean, and low-carbon baseload power for decades as the major sites at Bruce Power in Kincardine, Ont., as well as at Ontario Power Generation in Darlington continue through their unprecedented asset life-extension programs. In addition, the advances that the Canadian nuclear energy industry has made in embracing, enabling, and leading the large scale-up will help to change the face of diagnostics and the treatment of historically chronic and pervasive conditions around the world. Finally, as a global leader in enabling the advancement of SMRs, Canada is well-poised to facilitate the influence that large-scale SMRs will have on providing reliable solutions to satisfy evolving, unique, and scalable energy supply needs to ensure we achieve our climate targets while satisfying our ever-growing energy consumption needs — which is even more relevant as we continue to electrify our grids and transportation fleets.

What recent achievements in the nuclear space should Canada be proud of? 

Canada is an admired and respected player on the global stage amongst every major jurisdiction in terms of our culture, safety record, performance record, technology adoption, and workforce. Leaders from the Canadian nuclear industry are in demand and are often sought after for international positions in the field. Additionally, our fleet of nuclear reactors continues to achieve world-leading performance records, and we boast the world’s largest operating nuclear utility site at Bruce Power.

The life-extension programs currently underway at Bruce Power and Ontario Power Generation are the largest green infrastructure projects in the nation, and we’re quickly becoming a global leader and champion in the medical isotope space. We need to take far more credit for our amazing accomplishments, but we don’t to the degree that we should. And what is more Canadian than that? Steady, reliable, respected, and modest — it’s the Canadian way!

The post Future of Nuclear: Q&A with Nuclear Expert Darryl Spector appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Mediaplanet spoke with Lisa McBride of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy about the industry’s impact and opportunities, including for women.

Why is Canada’s nuclear energy industry more important than ever right now?

Nuclear energy is clean, safe, and reliable energy that’s helping us to meet our net-zero goals, and there’s no way that we can get to net-zero without nuclear energy. To me, getting to net-zero is about leveraging all types of clean energy generation to meet these decarbonization goals, and that includes nuclear.

What advice can you offer to women looking to pursue a career in the nuclear industry?

The nuclear industry is innovative, dynamic, and exciting, and there are opportunities in almost everything to do with nuclear. This industry needs all voices — it needs diversity and women in order to leverage what diversity truly means to a business. I would really like women to know that there are a lot of growth opportunities and different career opportunities in this industry, and that if they apply themselves, the sky is the limit.

Aside from the benefits of clean energy, how is Canada’s nuclear industry making a major contribution to our economy and society?

In Canada, we have the full fuel cycle — everything from mining to nuclear energy to research and development in waste and decommissioning. If we look at the full value proposition of nuclear, we employ more than 76,000 people in this industry. We make a major contribution to the economy — our impact is $17 billion a year to the Canadian GDP from the nuclear energy industry. Not to mention the valuable contribution from medical isotope production, which saves lives every single day.

What actions should Canada focus on to increase diversity in the nuclear energy industry?

We need to focus on highlighting the opportunities in STEM and the role of nuclear energy for young women within the education system. If we look at the talent pipeline, we need to start much earlier, and we need more women interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and nuclear. We need to encourage more women in engineering and similar disciplines so that the labour market availability supports gender parity. We don’t have enough women in STEM and nuclear-related professions to really have the balance we need.

From an industry perspective, we need to think about how to make sure that we represent a diverse industry so role models are visible and the future workforce so everyone can imagine themselves in these roles. As an industry, we need to make sure that we reflect the opportunities that exist for all voices at the table.

How is Women in Nuclear Canada promoting career interest in nuclear-related professions, especially among women and young people?

We profile the role that women have in the industry, which relates to my earlier comments on role models. Women in Nuclear Canada is revamping and relaunching our Speakers’ Clearinghouse, which is an opportunity for our members to speak within the education system at schools and at conferences, to profile the role women play and the opportunities that exist. We work with other organizations (including Skills Canada and Skills Ontario) to promote interest. It’s not just STEM — it’s skilled trades as well. There are lots of professional opportunities in the industry.

We also have an education outreach program that’s currently being restructured so that we will be ready to launch in 2022.  This will provide the opportunity to educate students on the role of nuclear energy in the energy transition and reflect opportunities for women in nuclear.

The post Nuclear’s Impact and Opportunities: Q&A with Industry Vet Lisa McBride appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Effective Regulators Don’t Impede Innovation

The role of Canada’s nuclear regulator is to protect people from risk, not get in the way of progress.

Read more »

An Innovative and Collaborative Approach to Dealing with Nuclear Waste

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is taking an innovative, industry-leading approach to the safe, long-term management of nuclear waste.

Read more »

Creating a Cleaner and Greener Future with the Power of Nuclear Energy

Innovation and leadership in the nuclear sector from companies like Hatch are fuelling hope for a carbon-free future.

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Q&A with Industry Icon Tracy Primeau on Mentorship and Opportunities in Nuclear

Mediaplanet spoke with Tracy Primeau about the opportunities in Canada’s nuclear industry, working with Indigenous communities, and more.

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Future of Nuclear: Q&A with Nuclear Expert Darryl Spector

Mediaplanet chatted with Darryl Spector, President of Promation, about Canada’s world-leading nuclear industry, its recent innovations, and where it’s headed.

Read more »

Nuclear’s Impact and Opportunities: Q&A with Industry Vet Lisa McBride

Mediaplanet spoke with Lisa McBride of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy about the industry’s impact and opportunities, including for women.

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How One Company is Helping Canada Lead the Energy Transition

Cutting-edge innovations by nuclear energy leader GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy power up Canada’s leadership in carbon-free technology.

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Delivering Nuclear Power to Achieve a Sustainable Environment

Since its formation in 1998, the World Nuclear Transport Institute has developed practices to safely, securely, reliably, and efficiently transport radioactive materials.

Read more »

Look for the Helpers: Conversations with Climate-Anxious Kids

Phillip is the Director of the NII Explore program at the Nuclear Innovation Institute in Port Elgin, Ontario.

Read more »

The post Canada’s Nuclear Future appeared first on HiveInnovates.