Shepherding Canada into a clean energy tomorrow will require various green technologies working in harmony. The advent of SMRs is prompting a re-evaluation of the role nuclear could play in that plan.

In today’s high-tech energy landscape, much value and hope are placed on the idea of new energy technology. With the spectre of climate change ever-present, advancements in renewables like wind, solar, and geothermal are heralded as potential saviours. Still, the reality remains that renewables alone will not get us to our energy goals, and certainly not on a fast enough timescale. To truly address our energy issues in a timely fashion, we must also look to innovations in our more established clean energy technologies like nuclear.

Nuclear technology has hardly been sitting still in the half-century since the first CANDU reactors entered operation. Today’s advanced nuclear technologies, such as small modular reactors (SMRs), offer safer and cleaner ways to efficiently and cost-competitively generate green energy. “Our scalable power plant solutions incorporate enhanced safety, improved affordability, and extended flexibility for diverse electrical and process heat applications,” says Clayton Scott, Executive Vice President of Business Development for SMR provider NuScale Power. “NuScale’s technology is not just capable of producing reliable baseload electricity but is also designed for flexible operations that complement renewable energy generation sources, like wind and solar.”

Making nuclear viable where it never was before

The size and portability of SMRs open opportunities for their use in many remote and specialized environments that have previously remained dependent on fossil fuels. NuScale’s SMRs have an incredible safety record in Canada and the United States. Their VOYGR SMR power plant is currently the only U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission-approved design that’s near-term deployable and commercially viable.

“NuScale’s simple design eliminates many of the large and complex systems found in today’s nuclear power plants, making it safer and less expensive to build and operate,” says Scott. “Our unparalleled safety case justifies a reduced emergency planning zone, allowing our VOYGR power plants to be sited in close proximity to process heat off-takers and to repower retiring coal stations.”

Building on decades of domestic nuclear expertise

Given Canada’s long history as a nuclear power innovator and global leader, new nuclear technologies like these are a natural inclusion in our clean energy transformation plans. Modern nuclear energy has a lifecycle carbon footprint that’s even lower than that of wind or solar. Its ability to provide consistent baseload power makes it a perfect partner for these renewables in a robust energy mix. “Achieving climate goals simply cannot be done without nuclear energy as part of the equation,” says Scott. “Our SMRs can be easily integrated into a renewable-heavy system and offer an opportunity for true decarbonization with safe, flexible, secure, and affordable zero-carbon baseload technology that will help Canada achieve its net-zero goals and energy security.”

Because, at the end of the day, no one innovation will solve all of our energy challenges. The diverse contexts of Canadian energy usage require a diverse array of answers, often used in creative combinations. SMRs and other new nuclear advancements represent a powerful new tool for Canadian energy planners to add to their tool chest. Our collective ability to build a green future for Canada is stronger for it.

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Karin Stephenson shares what sparked her interest in nuclear medicine research, why it’s so important to her, and what Canadians need to know about the evolving industry. 

What prompted you to pursue a career in nuclear medicine research? 

I knew from a very early age that my career would involve helping people, thinking I may become a medical doctor. My passion for science was equally strong and charted my path for university, and by my fourth-year thesis project, a spark was lit for research in nuclear medicine and medical isotopes. From there, things really took off — a graduate degree in chemistry and radiopharmaceutical sciences, followed by two post-doctoral fellowships, the first in the radiology department at the University of Pennsylvania and the second at the PET Centre at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Some 20 years later, I’m still incredibly excited about the potential of this research and so proud that it’s now in the clinic treating different cancers. And now, I have the opportunity to support and grow the field in a different way in my role as Chief Scientific Officer for the Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council (CNIC).

How have you seen the nuclear medicine industry evolve over the years? 

Nuclear medicine and the use of medical isotopes is in a period of tremendous growth. Initially used primarily for diagnosing and staging of disease, the last 10 years have seen expanded use of therapeutic medical isotopes to prepare radiotherapies for various cancers, changing the landscape and the market. By 2030, therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals will claim the largest stake in the estimated US$30 billion nuclear medicine market. Medical isotopes like Actinium-225 and Lutetium-177 are driving this change, providing new treatment options for both unmet needs and the potential for new frontline therapies. 

What would you like Canadians to know about nuclear medicine? 

I know first-hand that nuclear medicine changes lives and impacts families every day for Canadians and around the world. Nuclear medicine became very personal for me when my mom was diagnosed with Stage 2 melanoma and had a PET scan wherein they discovered she also had breast cancer — a scan I believe saved her life.  

As Canadians, it’s important to know that we’re playing a critical role in the global supply of medical isotopes. Medical isotopes are the key ingredient in the drugs used to diagnose and treat diseases in nuclear medicine departments around the world. Currently, we’re the largest supplier of two of the most widely used medical isotopes, and we play critical roles in the supply chain of a number of others. Further, we’re experts and world leaders in this field, with some of the most promising technology coming from Canadian research and development.

How is Canada uniquely positioned to play a key role in the global medical isotope industry? 

Canada has the nuclear capital — both talent and infrastructure — that allows us to punch well above our weight. Consider the groundbreaking isotope production systems (IPS) developed for our CANDU power reactors that leverage Canadian technology to produce medical isotopes at a massive scale — Bruce Power’s production of Lutetium-177 and OPG’s collaboration with LEP and BWXT to produce the most widely used diagnostic medical isotope precursor Mo-99 are game-changing. And world-leading research facilities — like McMaster University’s research reactor and TRIUMF’s accelerator — are advancing the research and discovery of new medical isotopes. Accelerators often produce different isotopes from reactors, and the global medical isotope supply is going to need all of them. 

Stability in supply is critical to ensuring patients do not go untreated or have the best treatment option. Combined, the Canadian medical isotope ecosystem is uniquely positioned to provide incredible stability to the global medical isotope supply and markets.

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In an interview with Mediaplanet, Darryl Spector, President of Promation, discusses the applications of nuclear energy in the health-care and energy sectors.

What sparked your interest in nuclear, and what has your experience working in the industry been like?

When Promation was approached to do work for refurbishment in the nuclear space, we were in the automotive world, and I thought, why are they coming to us? We’re not nuclear physicists or PhD’s — we’re automation and robotics people.

As we learned about the opportunity, it was very apparent just how relevant our skill sets and experiences around automation, tooling, and custom machinery were to the nuclear industry. We brought something new, unique, and disruptive, and I would argue it was even more relevant to those specific refurbishment needs because it relied on custom machinery and custom automation expertise. That brought a disruptive element to the industry because, traditionally, only big players kept doing the same thing. 

Initially, coming into the Nuclear industry from the outside, I thought that the world of nuclear energy and power generation would be very intimidating — I’ve since come to learn over my years of experience that it’s a lot more accessible, interesting, and easier to understand than I initially figured. 

Innovations in Canada’s nuclear industry are benefiting various sectors, such as health care and energy. Can you tell us about the new technologies you’re most excited about?

The first that comes to mind is small modular reactors (SMRs). The exciting thing about SMRs is that there are a number of players in the SMR space, and it’s been a bit of a horse race to see which players can get there first. SMR technology is great in terms of accessibility because now we’re seeing secondary and tertiary applications for SMRs beyond primary power utility baseload. For example, a 10-megawatt SMR can be used in remote facilities, allowing remote communities to have a green, low-carbon energy supply solution for powering large-scale operations in remote sites, mining, processing, and so on. 

Another groundbreaking innovation that comes to mind is the recent entry of nuclear players into large-scale medical isotope facilitation. Countless medical devices worldwide have been sterilized with Cobalt-60, produced and harvested in Ontario at both OPG’s and Bruce Power’s facilities.

We’re seeing a broader benefit of our strong nuclear industrial supply base, who are collaborating with pharmaceutical innovators and partnering with nuclear energy power producers to design, develop, manufacture, and install systems that will allow for large-scale harvesting and processing of medical isotopes, saving tens of thousands of lives. Canada really wants to become a leader in the medical isotope space globally, and we’re well-positioned to do so. 

What do you see as a risk for Canadians if we don’t embrace nuclear power as a large-scale source of energy supply?

We’re seeing increased demand and reliance on carbon-based energy

sources like gas turbines. We’re not going to hit our targets — we know that. And it’s not just energy that drives that — there are a number of factors. One of them is energy, and we don’t have enough low-carbon or no-carbon sources. That’s one side of it, but there’s also energy availability. If you look at the IESO’s Annual Planning Outlook, there’s some uncertainty about how we will fill our increasing energy gaps. Ontario wants to be a leader in electric vehicle manufacturing, and Canada wants to commit to that as well, but the fact is, those also require energy that we may not have available. 

If we don’t start to embrace nuclear as an option, then we’re going to have to increase our demand for a carbon-based energy supply. However, if that happens, we will be losing global investments critical to economic viability. 

Where do you see Canada’s nuclear industry headed?

There’s finally been a global acknowledgement that we need nuclear as a key element for satisfying energy demand and supply as we move away from carbon-based energy. Federally, we’re finally seeing Canada acknowledging the importance of nuclear in the mix when there were years of hesitation before. Nuclear, now being acknowledged as a green technology when previously it was excluded from the green taxonomy and lumped in with nicotine, tobacco, and weapons, shows that a shift is gradually happening. 

On the regulatory side, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) has established a framework that’s a lot more facilitating and accommodating of establishing SMRs. SMRs aren’t the same as large-scale power reactors, and you shouldn’t necessarily have the same regulatory framework for SMRs. Great things have been done recently, but Canadians are going to have to start listening to the fact that climate change is real, and we need to do something about it, which can start with embracing nuclear. 

In your opinion, what’s a barrier to the broader adoption of nuclear?

Social license is a large barrier to the broader adoption of nuclear, but this has changed a lot in the past 10 years. The science is being more understood, and the considerations of being able to indulge ideological differences are waning. Interest in the science and research and acknowledging that everything has risks helps break down this barrier. If you’re looking for a zero-risk solution, then our only option is to stop consuming energy, which is not an option.

It’s important to look at a combination of severity and likelihood of frequency. Although the severity might be extremely high, if the likelihood of frequency and occurrence is next to zero, then how legitimate is that risk? The actual risk of not adopting nuclear invokes many other issues. Climate change is real, and it’s happening right now. 

Canadians need to understand the science. No industry has as much control over the whole life cycle of the assets and the fuel itself. Some people think there’s no long-term solution for nuclear waste, and that’s not necessarily true. If you don’t have waste, then you don’t have nuclear, and if you don’t have nuclear, then what do you do? There are proven geologically stable repository reserves to store that waste. So is it that there’s no waste? No. But there’s a proven and vetted solution to manage that waste. 

Why do you believe all Canadians should embrace nuclear power?

Canadians should embrace nuclear power because there’s no pervasive, large-scale, reliable, and baseload solution that works in Canada. 

The post Embracing Nuclear: Q&A with Darryl Spector, President of Promation appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Dr. Chris Keefer shares with Mediaplanet why Canada needs to adopt nuclear — from cleaner air and a cooler climate to life-saving medical isotopes. 

Starting your career as an emergency physician, what sparked your interest in advocating for nuclear energy?

Ontario’s electricity grid used to be 25 per cent coal-powered, and we operated the largest coal plant in North America, contributing to 54 smog days a year in my hometown of Toronto. I grew up with an asthmatic friend who barely left his house all summer because our air quality was so poor. Over the course of my early medical career, we eliminated coal burning in Ontario, something very few jurisdictions around the world have been able to do, but it was only years later that I learned how we got rid of coal. Ontario accomplished this feat by using nuclear energy, which provided 90 per cent of the power required to permanently eliminate coal. 

We take the air we all breathe for granted. Burning coal has numerous health impacts, from asthma and emphysema to heart attacks, strokes, and even cancer. The Ontario Medical Association estimates that a thousand lives per year could be saved, and tens of thousands of hospital admissions could be avoided by phasing out coal. During my clinical practice, I directly witnessed the benefits of clean air and came to understand that nuclear energy literally saved thousands of lives right here in Ontario since it produces no air pollution. 

However, my initial discovery of nuclear energy as something that could be a positive thing came around the time of the birth of my child. I was thinking a lot about climate change and wanted to do something about it. Being a science geek, I started researching the solutions for climate change. I learned that the fundamental solution is to develop an ultra-clean electricity grid and electrify as much of our economy as possible. I learned that right in my backyard in Ontario, we had done just that with our electricity grid which uses nuclear for 65 per cent of its power generation. 

Why nuclear energy? 

Nuclear ticks all of the boxes we should care about in our modern world. It’s an environmentalist’s dream because there’s no air pollution, and you can produce an astounding amount of energy with the least possible mining and the smallest land footprint. The three power plants that provide 65 per cent of Ontario’s electricity are each about the size of a large shopping mall. Nuclear uses a fraction of the concrete, steel, and rare earth minerals compared to other low-carbon sources like wind and solar, which means the lowest disturbance to our natural world.

The Pickering Nuclear Generating Station essentially generates the electricity requirements for most of Toronto on the footprint the size of a Costco shopping centre. This is because Uranium is a million times more energy dense than coal, for instance. The amount of uranium that one of the world’s largest nuclear plants — the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station in Ontario — uses every day could fit inside one oil barrel.

Nuclear power also provides Canada with an incredible economic advantage. Canada has innovated its own nuclear technology and design — the CANDU reactor — with a 96 per cent made in Canada supply chain. This gives us complete energy security and an incredible economic multiplier effect. Every dollar we invest in CANDU generates $1.40 of economic activity. Nuclear is great for the environment and economy, and that’s a rare mix.

There’s also the question of a just transition for fossil fuel workers. Jobs in wind and solar tend to be low-skill, low paying, and transient. There are, after all, no parking lots outside of a wind or solar farm. Nuclear offers fossil fuel workers equally well-paying, high-skilled jobs producing the lowest carbon form of electricity on the planet. These jobs are inter-generational, family-supporting, and mostly unionized. Nuclear truly is the just transition.

Finally, it’s important to consider alternative clean energy sources when asking, “why nuclear?” With wind and solar, the reality is that these power sources don’t produce energy reliably, and they become critically reliant on backup, which must be capable of supplying 100 per cent of energy needs when wind and sun don’t co-operate, which is not a rare occurrence. This means that you simply cannot retire reliable power stations like gas and coal plants, which is borne out by the experience of Germany and California, where despite large-scale investments in wind and solar, fossil fuel plants cannot be retired.

Nuclear energy offers us clean air, a cooler climate, and life-saving medical isotopes. With a supply chain that’s 96 per cent made in Canada and high-quality jobs, we can achieve our environmental goals, a healthy economy, and a truly just transition for Canadian workers.

What about the waste?

People are concerned about the waste, but we produce a vanishingly small amount of it. All of the high-level nuclear waste that we’ve ever produced in Canada would fit in one hockey rink stacked one telephone pole high.

Nuclear waste is very dangerous fresh out of the reactor, and unshielded, it would cause certain death within seconds of exposure. Yet, paradoxically in modern society, we make dangerous things incredibly safe. Consider aviation, for instance. We don’t give a second thought to flying 30,000 feet at close to the speed of sound, above a vast ocean, in a thin-skinned airplane with nowhere to safely land for thousands of kilometres. It’s a lot easier to shield nuclear waste in water-filled pools and then concrete and steel dry casks than to maintain an aircraft with tens of thousands of mission-critical moving parts that must remain in perfect working order. This is borne out by the fact that no one has ever been killed by stored civilian nuclear waste. Despite 4.5 billion passenger flights every year, only several hundred people die annually in aviation accidents.

Nuclear waste rapidly decays. In 10 years 99.9% of the radiation has disappeared. Within 200 years you would get a dose lower than a CT scan by standing next to nuclear waste for one hour. In 600 years you could safely hold nuclear waste in your hand.

The long term solution is either to store the waste deep underground where we can use the rock layers to contain it on geological timescales or reuse it in a type of reactor that can use up the rest of the fuel and produce waste that only needs to be stored for 300 years.

Aside from generating power, how are Canadian nuclear reactors being utilized in health care? 

Canadian engineers have developed and refined the CANDU reactor. It’s a unique reactor in terms of its ability to produce an enormous amount of medical isotopes, which are radioactive elements that we use for cancer therapy and the sterilization of medical devices.  

In Canada, we’ve produced most of the world’s Cobalt-60, which is used to sterilize 40 per cent of the world’s single-use medical devices — from the IV cannula going into someone’s arm to the breathing tubes used in the ICU. Medical isotopes enable modern health care, and modern health care depends on sterile equipment. 

Certain isotopes are also used in Canada as vital cancer therapies. My father is currently being treated with a medical isotope (Lutetium-177) produced at Bruce Power for metastatic prostate cancer. And you can’t just do this in any old power reactor — some research reactors around the world make medical isotopes, but they can’t make the quantities that we can with our CANDUs. So a Canadian nuclear plant is not only pumping out clean electricity and fighting the climate crisis but is also making our air clean and extending my father’s life through this isotope treatment. 

How is Canadians for Nuclear Energy changing the conversation surrounding nuclear?

Canadians for Nuclear Energy is a non-profit, completely independent from the nuclear industry, so we’re able to communicate in a much bolder manner than industry folks. We’ve been very politically active since our founding in 2020. We produced the detailed policy report, “Save Pickering,” which was so influential in the Ontario government’s decision to extend the life of the Pickering nuclear station. This decision will keep five million tonnes of CO2 out of the atmosphere and safeguard our air quality from the smog produced by natural gas plants. 

We’ve started several House of Commons petitions which required formal written government responses. Our activism around Canada’s Green Bond Framework, which excludes nuclear from green financing alongside sin stocks like tobacco, firearms, and gambling, led to the federal government including nuclear within the mandate of the Canada Infrastructure Bank and additional funding to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to speed up the regulatory frameworks for Small Modular Reactors. So our efforts have been incredibly impactful, and we are just getting started! American anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of committed individuals can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

The post Q&A with Dr. Chris Keefer on the Life-Saving Benefits of Nuclear appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Industry icon Tracy Primeau shares her experience starting as a woman in the nuclear industry, how the industry can be more diverse, and what exciting innovations to look out for.

What led you to a career in the nuclear energy industry?

I never considered working in the nuclear industry — I planned to be a history teacher. I went to the University of Waterloo, which had a co-op program that allowed me to spend some time with high school students. I then decided that teaching wasn’t the life for me. Even though I was in an arts program, I took many computer science courses, was really good at it, and loved it. But I didn’t want to start over again — I was tired of living on macaroni and ketchup and was newly married.

So, my dad suggested I apply to be an operator, and I did. I went through all the testing and interviews, and Ontario Power Generation (OPG) offered me a job as a nuclear operator in training in 1990. Until the ’80s, women weren’t even allowed to work in nuclear plants. I passed all the tests and had the smarts, but there was a bit of diversity and equity push at the time, which I’m sure helped me get chosen. 

What was your experience as the first woman to enter the Bruce A Nuclear Generating Station control room as an authorized nuclear operator? 

There was a lot of extra pressure, but it was mostly from myself. When I went through the program to get my certification, I wanted to be at the top of the class, get the highest mark on the tests, and I felt the need to be the best. There definitely were people watching me. Some older men didn’t want to work with me. There was a shift manager who didn’t want me on his crew. 

Being the first woman to enter Bruce A came with a lot of proving myself, but the hard work I put in worked out to be great because I learned so much and gained so much knowledge in such a short time. The very first time I made a mistake, I was torn apart. My first mistake was made well into my career — I was trying to do too many things at once and pressed the wrong button, but I fixed it immediately. I made that mistake a part of my story that I would speak to women and young operators about. When you take your mistakes, learn from them, and use them productively, they make a difference. 

Why is diversity in STEM jobs, specifically in the nuclear industry, so important?

The nuclear industry is currently going through a renaissance, and change, innovation, and growth in the industry will only be successful if we have diverse teams. We need people from diverse backgrounds who look different, think differently, and have differing experiences. And I’m not only talking about women or racialized groups or LGBTQ2+ groups here — I’m also talking about diversity in thinking and background. 

I’ve always thought that what I bring to the OPG board is my CANDU nuclear experience leading a shift crew, my Indigenous background, and the fact that I was a blue-collar worker. I lived in coveralls for the first 10 years of my career, I worked shifts for most of my career, and I was a female in a non-traditional role for all of my career — which was another piece of diversity I brought. 

If everyone around the table on your team looks like you, then you’re all going to have the same ideas and are just going to pat each other on the back. We need people on our teams from different backgrounds who look different and have differing experiences. 

How can leaders in the nuclear industry respect and advance reconciliation with Indigenous communities across Canada? 

The term that we’ve been using is lately Truth and Reconciliation. Reconciliation means that we had a good relationship to begin with, and now we’re reconciling. But that’s not really the case. The Truth is that Canada’s relationship with Indigenous Peoples was never good, so we have to get to the Truth before we can talk about Reconciliation. 

Until 1951, Indigenous Peoples were not considered Indians if they obtained a post-secondary school degree. So, if you became an engineer, lawyer, or doctor, you had to give up your Indian status. So, I like to share that with the nuclear people who work in the same or similar occupations so they can understand a bit of the Truth before we can talk about Reconciliation. 

I also like to celebrate that even though Indigenous Peoples were excluded, they persisted. They’re the youngest and fastest-growing demographic in Canada. They’re creating businesses at nine times the rate of the average non-Indigenous Canadian. And Indigenous business leaders value and look at their employees as full people, which I think other businesses could learn from in their work. 

Learning Indigenous history and educating yourself is important. It’s important to understand all the pieces of what it means to use Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge in your research, studies, and plans. 

I also recognize now that people are uncomfortable and worried about saying the wrong thing, asking the wrong question, or saying something inappropriate, but that only stops the conversation and stalls the progress. Ask the questions, start the conversations, learn more about the history, and talk about it in your company and with your family. 

In your opinion, what’s the most exciting innovation transforming Canada’s nuclear industry?

I’m really excited about the medical isotope production that’s happening right now. Isotopes used to be made in small research reactors or specialized reactors at universities and the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. Now, we’re producing isotopes in our reactors that also produce power. 

Another innovation that I think I’m most excited about is small modular reactors. I’m excited about how they work, which is different and simpler than the reactors that I was trained on. I’m excited about the ability to build them faster than we ever could a full-sized reactor. 

Finally, something else that I’m really excited about is the increasing diversity in Canada’s nuclear industry. To name a few:

• OPG’s Chief Operations Officer is Nicolle Butcher, a woman.
• The President of X-energy Canada is Katherine Moshonas Cole, a woman.
• The Canadian Country Leader of Small Modular Reactors for GE Hitachi’s Nuclear Products Division is Lisa McBride, a woman.
• The Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s President and CEO is Laurie Swami, a woman.
• The Chief Nuclear Engineer of Candu Energy (SNC-Lavalin) is Stephanie Smith, a woman.

You can see that women are leading, and the fact that they’re leading is really making a difference in partnerships happening in the industry. 

Why does the world need nuclear? 

There are many reasons, but I want to focus on why the world needs nuclear to fight climate change. Multiple things can be done to fight climate change, and nuclear complements them all. If we want to generate power without emissions, we have renewable energy, and we have nuclear. But we can’t always count on the water to run, the sun to shine, and the wind to blow, but we can always count on nuclear to provide us with a reliable, steady grid that’s emission-free. Nuclear provides us with a stable, baseload power that runs all the time, generating zero-emission power that also can be used to electrify cars, homes, and more.

The post Tracy Primeau on Diversity and Innovation in Canada’s Nuclear Industry appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Managing highly radioactive nuclear waste presents a unique challenge. Canada is up to the task and is moving forward to protect people and the environment for the long term.

Canada has been one of the great pioneers and early adopters of nuclear power. That history has left us with a legacy of clean energy to power our homes and businesses, it has driven incredible innovation in the medical sciences, and it has employed thousands in a rich ecosystem of scientific, industrial, and extractive research and insight that continues to provide vast economic benefit to this country. But it has also thrust upon us the necessity of becoming pioneers once again, this time in tackling nuclear power’s greatest challenge: the safe management and storage of highly radioactive waste products.

Canada’s used nuclear fuel is a stable solid material in the form of a fuel bundle. The current inventory of used nuclear fuel from six decades of using nuclear power is approximately 3 million fuel bundles – about enough to fill eight hockey rinks from the ice surface to the top of the boards. It is presently stored at secure facilities in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Manitoba. An additional 90,000 fuel bundles are added to that count each year. Though our existing approach is safe and effective, it has always been understood that it is not a permanent solution.

Planning today for the good of tomorrow

In 2002, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) was created as a national not-for-profit organization tasked with the safe, long-term management of Canada’s used nuclear fuel in a manner that protects people and the environment for generations to come. “When the NWMO was created, we started by talking to Canadians and Indigenous Peoples, about how they wanted to see used nuclear fuel managed,” says Laurie Swami, President and CEO of NWMO. “Overwhelmingly, we heard that we must take responsibility for nuclear waste now, in this generation, rather than passing that burden on to our children and grandchildren. Decades of international research have provided a scientific consensus that deep geological repositories are the best way to do that.”

A deep geological repository — in which used nuclear fuel is stored more than half a kilometre underground, beneath a natural shield of solid rock, augmented by five layers of engineered barriers — has long been hailed as a theoretically ideal solution to nuclear waste. Today, it’s no longer theoretical, with projects moving forward in many countries with commercial nuclear energy programs. Canada is building upon decades of international co-operation, research, and development to pioneer the benchmark example of responsible nuclear waste management. Swami notes, “This is a multi-generational project implemented over 175 years and will be one of the largest national environmental infrastructure projects in Canada’s history. We’re going to get it right.”

Choosing a home for a legacy of proactive responsibility

Getting it right means securing support from the stewards of the land where such a project might be located. “Canada’s plan can only proceed in an area where the municipality, First Nations, and Métis communities, and others in the area, are working together to implement it. In fact, the NWMO has only worked in regions where a community has voluntarily expressed interest in exploring their potential to host the project,” says Swami.

Progressive rounds of detailed social and technical studies have narrowed the potential sites from 22 to two locations: the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation-Ignace area in northwestern Ontario and the Saugeen Ojibway Nation-South Bruce area in southern Ontario. Final site selection is expected to take place in 2024. The selected site will become home to a Centre of Expertise, a world-class destination for knowledge-sharing, technical and social research and a technology demonstration program, involving scientists and experts from a wide variety of disciplines.

Throughout this process and in the years of construction to come, the project will continue to combine cutting-edge science with Indigenous knowledge to ensure that used nuclear fuel is safely contained and isolated for the very long term, completing the circle in Canada’s journey as an innovator in clean and safe nuclear energy.

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Nuclear is not only a means to help Canada reach net-zero carbon but also a dynamic and exciting career choice.

Nuclear power has been an integral part of Ontario’s energy landscape for many years, producing as much as 60 per cent of the province’s electricity. “It has also contributed to Ontario having among the lowest greenhouse gas emissions from electricity in the world,” says Dr. Markus Piro, Canada Research Chair in Nuclear Fuels and Materials, and Chair of Department of Energy and Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Ontario Tech University. Going forward, nuclear energy is expected to play a key role in helping Canada meet its net-zero carbon targets and sustainability commitments.

Ontario Tech University has nuclear in its DNA

Located in Durham Region — where Pickering and Darlington supply 30 per cent of Ontario’s electricity, about half of the province’s nuclear energy — Ontario Tech is a major supplier of talent to the nuclear industry. Since its inception, Engineering at Ontario Tech has provided the nuclear sector with highly qualified graduates to satisfy industry demand. We offer the only accredited undergraduate nuclear engineering program in Canada. “A large number of faculty in our engineering programs have worked in the industry and are currently conducting related research, so they’re able to connect the classroom experience and course content directly to what the industry needs,” says Dr. Piro.

In addition to undergraduate and graduate programs, Ontario Tech offers continuous learning through customized programs for industry. “We have many engineers and managers from Ontario Power Generation, for example, coming to the university’s Nuclear Simulation Lab to be trained on all aspects of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. Our simulation lab is a unique facility that you cannot find at any other Canadian university,” says Dr. Piro.

A key research focus for Ontario Tech is energy. “We have a number of energy-related projects and direct collaborations with industry, as well as a number of research facilities that are distinct to the university,” says Dr. Piro. These include the only International Atomic Energy Agency Collaborating Centre in Canada, investigating the integration of nuclear with other technologies; the Brilliant Energy Institute, which provides communities, industry, policy makers and individuals, the scientific, evidence-based knowledge and collaboration mechanisms necessary to achieve net-zero; and the Clean Energy Research Lab, a leading hydrogen-related research facility. Ontario Tech is also home to the Centre for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). “Development in SMRs is multi-faceted in that they can be used in numerous ways, such as at the grid level to replace existing coal plants, power small remote northern communities, and for other applications outside of electricity production, like mining,” says Dr. Piro.

A dynamic, innovative industry poised for growth

Students interested in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers may want to consider the nuclear industry and Ontario Tech. “The nuclear industry is very strong, stable, and growing, and Ontario Tech’s leadership in clean energy research with industry enable us to provide high-quality education to the students, and highly qualified personnel to our industry stakeholders,” says Dr. Piro.

Currently, there are around 60,000 jobs in nuclear across Canada, and that number is expected to increase in the coming years. “There are many exciting things going on right now, particularly with regard to ongoing refurbishment projects and SMRs, and that means plenty of career opportunities,” says Dr. Piro.

In support of the nuclear industry’s aim to achieve equal representation of females to males, Ontario Tech is strengthening gender diversity in its engineering programs, especially the nuclear engineering program, through an initiative called Equal by 30. This initiative includes partnerships with organizations like Women in Nuclear and Bruce Power. “Bruce Power has committed to providing dedicated co-ops and internships for women engineering students, which is pretty amazing,” says Dr. Piro.

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The climate crisis is here, and it has brought an energy crisis with it. Canada’s uranium reserves can provide a way forward.

The future of Canada, and the future of the world, depend on clean energy. Countries around the world are struggling to wean themselves from carbon-intensive fossil fuel energy in the midst of a climate crisis, even while the simultaneous electrification of transportation and heating drives up the already booming demand for electricity. Renewable generation capacity like wind and solar is being built out as quickly as possible but, in any honest assessment of the situation, there remains a huge gulf between our needs and what renewables can provide. And the most pragmatic solution is buried in Saskatchewan.

Canada’s wealth in nuclear fuel is incredible, and NexGen Energy’s Arrow Deposit in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin alone contains over 100 million kilograms of uranium. Canadian mined and milled uranium is already helping to offset 300 to 500 megatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, and the development of the Arrow Deposit through NexGen’s proposed Rook I Project that’s currently undergoing provincial and federal regulatory review, could dramatically increase that, reaffirming Canada as a world leader in clean energy fuel production. All that is needed is the will to embrace nuclear energy as a powerful tool in meeting global climate and energy goals.

Why nuclear?

“There’s clearly an ongoing climate crisis, but there’s also an energy crisis unfolding here, full stop,” says Leigh Curyer, President and CEO of NexGen Energy. “There are two key issues. First, the actual provision of electricity. Secondly, addressing the climate crisis by making that energy from non-carbon-emitting electrical sources. Government policies around the world are transitioning to electric vehicles, which is going to create even greater electrical demand at the back end of this decade and throughout the future. Wind and solar don’t yet have the capability to provide baseload power 24/7. Sometimes the sun’s not shining and the wind’s not blowing. Wind and solar are excellent contributors, but the world simply needs nuclear. There’s no greater source of power that’s more reliable and efficient than nuclear energy, and it’s carbon-free as well. If the question is around the sensible provision of power and generating carbon-free emissions, the science supporting nuclear energy is indisputable.”

Anti-nuclear ideologies have waxed and waned over the decades, and Canada’s contribution to global uranium production has dropped from 22 per cent to 8 per cent since 2016. But, in today’s climate of practical, scientifically driven solutions, new nuclear generation capacity is being recognized as an essential part of our climate plan, and that means it’s time to revitalize our uranium mining capacity. NexGen’s proposed Rook I Project on the Arrow Deposit would provide a massive new inflow of processed uranium concentrate on a time scale capable of supporting the 80 per cent increase in global nuclear power production needed by 2040 to meet Paris Agreement targets.

Why Saskatchewan?

The global need for uranium to power the new nuclear generation required to address the climate and energy crisis is clear. But, it makes sense to ask, why should Canada be the one to provide it? And why Saskatchewan specifically? The truth is that the geology of Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin, home to the Arrow Deposit, is truly unique. There’s nothing else in the world like it.

“The deposits in Saskatchewan’s Athabasca Basin are typically very high tonnage with the majority hosting extremely high grades compared to the rest of the world’s known deposits,” says Curyer. “Arrow is unique in this setting in that it will employ very conventional mining extraction and processing due to its competent ground characteristics and clean metallurgy.”

This means that time and resources invested mining uranium in Saskatchewan have an outsized economic return for the country and community. And the geology of the Rook I Property, with well-defined vertical deposits, also allows the mine to have an exceptionally small footprint, minimizing surface-level impacts. The combination of a rigorous environmental impact assessment and a comprehensive economic assessment, entailing considerable new infrastructure and the creation of hundreds of direct jobs, has made the Rook I Project popular among local stakeholders and Indigenous Groups.

“Going back to before we even drilled the first exploration hole, our process has been incredibly inclusive of all stakeholders,” says Curyer. “We went and introduced ourselves and built a phenomenal relationship with our community as evidenced by the three Benefit Agreements that we’ve signed with First Nations groups in the local project area. This is a relationship that has been built by our actions and the dedication of local leadership, and it’s just getting stronger and stronger. I think that’s purely a function of our approach and our genuineness toward incorporating all stakeholders and being incredibly transparent with respect to that process.”

Why now?

The need for uranium is urgent and global, and the supply is incredibly local. With initiatives like NexGen’s Rook I Project, Canada is powerfully positioned to reap significant economic benefit while stepping up to a role of leadership on the world stage in practical solutions to the energy and climate crises.

“The Rook I Project is not only environmentally elite, but it also has the ability to return Canada to being the number one global provider of clean air energy fuel,” says Curyer. “The opportunity for Saskatchewan and Canada is incredible on that basis alone.”

Anticipated Economic Benefits of NexGen’s Rook I Project

Employment Opportunities

350 workers during peak workforce

490 positions during peak employment

Income Opportunities

$384 million in construction labour costs

$55 million in operations direct labour spending

Broader Economic Benefits

$289 million in direct payments to government during an operating year for Saskatchewan

$104 million in direct payments to government during an operating year for Canada

Enhancement Measures

Commitments made in Benefit Agreements with primary Indigenous Groups

Programs developed and implemented between NexGen and local communities, enhancing training, education, and income opportunities for locals

The post Environmentally Elite Saskatchewan Uranium Project Could Unlock a Carbon-Free Global Future appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Actinium-225, one of the most sought-after isotopes in the world, is being studied and produced in Canada’s national nuclear laboratories.

If you haven’t heard of Actinium-225, it’s for good reason. Even with an army of nuclear scientists, you’d be hard-pressed to find more than a trace of the isotope anywhere on Earth. Actinium-225 is so rare that the annual global production is less than a grain of sand, which is why it has been dubbed ‘the rarest drug on Earth.’

Today, the unique properties of Actinium-225 have also made it one of the most sought-after isotopes in the world by the medical community. The material made headlines in 2016 when a German patient suffering from terminal cancer was treated with a novel therapy enabled by the rare isotope. Eight months later, the tumours had largely disappeared, the patient was still alive, and international researchers were clamouring for more Actinium-225.

Further studies have shown just as much promise, but the limited supply of Actinium-225 has hampered international efforts to advance research related to the isotope. That’s where Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) comes in.

A proud history in medical isotopes

CNL operates the Chalk River Laboratories, which is owned by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). Chalk River once produced more than half the world’s supply of Molybdenum-99, a key isotope used for cancer diagnostic procedures, and it’s estimated that isotopes produced in Chalk River have been used in over one billion medical procedures. CNL still fulfills a vital role as a national research laboratory. With the growing interest in Actinium-225, we recognized that we were one of a handful of companies in the world that could not only produce research quantities of the rare material but study it as well.

CNL not only has all of the health science laboratories, equipment, and expertise to conduct research programs based on Actinium-225, but we also have the nuclear materials needed to produce more of this rare isotope. Over the past three years, CNL has developed a small-scale generator that produces enough Actinium-225 for our research and meaningful quantities that we provide to our strategic partners advancing research in treatment safety and efficacy.

The ‘goldilocks’ isotope

How does the new treatment work, exactly? Actinium-225 is attached to a targeting molecule that’s designed to seek out and bind with cancer cells. Then, as the isotope decays, it emits high-energy alpha particles that effectively kill cancer cells, leaving nearby healthy cells virtually unharmed. With a half-life of 10 days, Actinium-225 lasts long enough to do its job in fighting cancer but doesn’t harmfully linger in the body. This is why it’s seen as a “goldilocks” isotope in nuclear medicine.

This treatment is collectively known as targeted alpha therapy (TAT), and CNL is positioning itself to be an international hub for this type of research in the future. In addition to radioisotope production, CNL also maintains capabilities to conduct biological research at its Biological Research Facility, a unique facility that can perform TAT-related research and development for universities and innovative companies.

A promising future

But even bigger plans are in the works. CNL sees an opportunity to build on its legacy in isotope production and processing and is exploring the construction of new facilities on the Chalk River campus that would establish a stable, commercial-scale supply chain for Actinium-225. In pursuit of that goal, CNL has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with ITM Isotope Technologies Munich, a leading radiopharmaceutical biotech company based out of Germany.

It’s all very exciting for a Canadian science institution that once transformed the way the world fights cancer. With Actinium-225, we plan to do it again.

The post Could Actinium-225 Transform Cancer Treatment? CNL Plans to Find Out appeared first on HiveInnovates.

Greening Ontario’s energy portfolio is essential, but renewables aren’t enough. Experts in Ontario’s energy sector offer a vision of a green energy future with a robust nuclear foundation.

There are a lot of voices offering a lot of opinions on Canada’s ongoing green energy transition. In Ontario, though, you would be hard-pressed to find a better-informed perspective than that put forward by the electricity workers themselves — those who have kept the energy sector thriving for decades.

The Society of United Professionals (SUP), founded more than 70 years ago by a collective of working engineers, today represents more than 8,000 professionals across the province of Ontario, predominantly in the electricity sector. “About 35 to 40 per cent of the workers we represent work in the nuclear sector,” says Michelle Johnston, President of the SUP. “The nuclear portfolio is extremely important, especially when we talk about climate change. We need to minimize fossil fuel use and eventually phase it out completely. Of course, hydro and renewables will have to play as big of a role as possible, but we have little room to grow on hydroelectric. So, when you look at the generation of baseload power — that always-on power — only nuclear can provide that backbone while still meeting climate targets. Nuclear is the only path to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.”

No green Ontario without nuclear

As Ontario struggles to formulate a solid plan to meet emissions targets while satisfying growing energy demand, Johnston is convinced that the province’s longstanding expertise in nuclear generation provides an opportunity as fossil fuel generation is phased out. “We know we need to phase out fossil fuels in order to achieve climate goals. Those folks that are working in that sector, we can provide them with a just transition into the nuclear sector,” says Johnston. “The skills those workers have are transferable. Nobody needs to be left behind from a labour perspective. Nuclear means good, unionized jobs. These are jobs that pay well, provide benefits, provide a pension, and give people the ability to have a comfortable life and contribute back to the economy.”

Growing the nuclear sector in Ontario responsibly will require leaning on new technologies like small modular reactors. Still, Johnston holds that it must also include revisiting plans to decommission existing facilities like the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station, which currently provides 3,100 megawatts of clean power. “We’re simply making it clear to the government that we really only have three options to meet our growing electricity needs: refurbish Pickering, build a new nuclear station, or become more reliant on gas power and the emissions that come with that,” Johnston says. “It was a long time ago when they first did the number crunching to see whether they should refurbish Pickering. With gas prices rising significantly since then, there is likely now an economic case for refurbishing Pickering to go along with the moral and environmental case for stopping catastrophic climate change.”

Modern nuclear facilities inspire pride

Even as new energy technologies provide fresh hope for a green future, our existing nuclear facilities have grown ever greener and more modern. “We tour MPs and MPPs through the Bruce Power plant and then we take them up the street to Ontario Power Generation’s waste storage facilities, and you can see the look on their faces change,” she recounts. “They’re so used to thinking of nuclear in terms of these huge yellow barrels with green goo coming out of them. But then the waste storage facility is actually the cleanest place they’ve ever walked into. And all of the workers there, you can see the pride on their faces whenever a tour goes through.”

And those workers aren’t just engineers and nuclear operators. A nuclear power plant is a massive and complex operation which demands a robust and diverse combination of skills from scientists to lawyers to software developers to security personnel. These are all good, unionized green jobs that already provide billions of dollars in economic benefits to Ontario communities. “There are a lot of people who are hesitant about nuclear in their area,” says Johnston, who herself lives minutes from the Pickering plant. “But once you start to educate people on the value it can bring, from a jobs perspective, from an economic perspective, and from the perspective of simply making the world a better place, those concerns tend to quickly go away.”

We all have skin in the game when it comes to climate change and energy security — two of the biggest issues facing Canada and the world today. When Ontario’s nuclear workers speak up on what they hope the future will look like, it behooves us to listen closely.

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