BONNYVILLE – Nucleon Energy Ltd. founders Will Bridge and Dustin Wilkes pitched the development of a small modular reactor (SMR) site in the MD of Bonnyville during the Nov. 12 council meeting, eliciting some positive reactions from council.
Bridge explained that while no site in Bonnyville has been identified yet, the company wishes to engage councils and communities in discussion prior to potential site selection.
Bridge said often wind, solar, or gas projects will locate a site prior to local engagement, but Nucleon Energy is looking to reverse that.
“The reason we're here today is we would like council’s support to work with your administration to discuss the sighting of an SMR in the county - where it could go, and where you don't want it to go. Is there support from the community? Is there no support for the community?” explained Bridge.
Bridge said they are not interested in pushing an SMR project on a community that doesn’t want it, as it is an expensive endeavor.
“We're keen to engage you, the administration, and the First Nations to find out the level of support that exists in the area,” said Bridge.
He reports they have spent two years trying to determine how to bring nuclear power to Alberta.
“The founders have a lot of experience in developing power projects in Alberta - we don't have nuclear experience, and so we brought on a bunch of advisers . . . to help us navigate the whole regulatory process, technical process, and engineering process. It really focused on small modular reactors not on the large-scale reactors that were built in the ‘60s and the ‘70s,” said Bridge.
He explained that with the decline in baseload coal, and wind and solar operating only 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the time, the province has an issue with finding a combination of reliable and affordable sources of power, and nuclear could offer a solution free of subsidies.
“Nuclear is very efficient. It's the most energy-dense form of electricity you can have. It's historically been challenging because of the capital cost of these large gigawatt reactors, but with the advent of small modular reactors that whole paradigm is changing.”
Bridge explained that SMR models can be around the size of a Costco store and are surrounded with exclusionary zones with a radius of 500 meters, which means that a site could fit on a quarter section of land.
Coun. Dana Swigart inquired into the specific technology being proposed, and Wilkes explained that during phase one of development they are still considering several options and clarified they will be operators of the technology, not designers.
Deputy Reeve Darcy Skarsen asked about job creation and how much power the site will put out.
Bridge said SaskPower has recommended putting two units on a site, as it is more economical.
“That's 600 megawatts. That's an amount of power that a 240 kV line can absorb... The 240 kV line cannot absorb a thousand megawatts,” said Bridge.
Wilkes explained that each separate unit employs around 300 people, construction brings with around 1000 people, and annual or biennial maintenance can bring in around 300.
Coun. Ben Fadeyiw said he has been following the SMR’s in Saskatchewan, as his son is looking at getting into that field of work. He said it is looking very positive and remarked that Peace River stakeholders have had a change in attitude about setting up a system there.
Fadeyiw asked for some elaboration on the water requirements and environmental impacts of the project.
Bridge said from an environmental standpoint, it would go through both a provincial and a federal environmental impact assessment.
“The impact on the environment is very similar to a natural gas fire power plant, minus the stack emissions, and so there are no emissions from a reactor core by design. Really, all of the emissions relate to the generator and the cooling system, which is the same system you would see on a gas fired power plant,” said Bridge.
He explained that air cooling systems are an option, and they will not be using problematic techniques that divert a water source, then release it back at an increased temperature.
“With us being so heavily based with energy, everybody's quite familiar with some of the impacts . . . I'm super excited about this and we will see how our conversations will go moving forward,” said Fadeyiw.
Coun. Dana Swigart asked if there had been conversations with ATCO or the provincial government about tying into an ATCO grid and the Alberta Grid.
“I'm not a fan of Bruce Power because of what happened in Ontario. People's electrical bills were higher than their mortgage payments because of that bungle that happened. I know this is smaller reactors . . . I'd be really concerned that you look at the costs and make sure we're not going to pay a ton more than we’re already paying or what’s the point?” said Swigart.
Bridge said they have been working with the provincial ministers of environment and parks, energy and minerals, and affordability and utilities.
The minister of affordability and utilities voiced concerns about the cost of the power in Alberta, which Bridge explains that 60 per cent of the bill is wires and 40 per cent of the bill is energy.
“We're looking at citing these in locations where no new wires need to be built . . . The only way that you can keep cost of power down is to use the infrastructure that already exists and that's why we're looking at locations near Peace River, and why we're here today,” said Bridge.
Wilkes said they are going to build their application so that it’s “nimble” enough to handle all the technologies, while ensuring that what they do build is proven economically.
Coun. Don Slipchuk inquired about the risks associated with an SMR.
Wilkes said that nuclear, per terawatt hour produced, is the safest form of electricity production in the world.
"Yes, there have been catastrophic events in the past . . . most of those stem from designs that were built in the 1960s and were operated through the1970s and ‘80s . . . The morphosis of the generation of reactor has been designed such that the risk of a catastrophic event is very small,” said Wilkes.
“The reactor buildings are built to withstand any type of explosion event . . . They're built with six-foot steel casings and then they're actually built with an outer dome so they can handle a 747 hitting them. All of these things have been designed so that no catastrophic release can happen from a reactor.”
Wilkes says fuel becomes the leading risk management factor after that. Some of the risk mitigation technologies include fuels encased in graphite balls that reduce radioactivity. The roughly 2,000 pounds of radioactive source material produced by a 300-megawatt system operating for 60 years can be placed in a copper plug.
“That copper plug gets encased in metal as well as a cement bentonite casing and then that sits for about 20 years and . . . there's no radioactivity that emits outside of that casing. It's a structure that can handle pretty much any type of mechanical impact that has ever been designed,” said Wilkes.
He also explained risk mitigations of a terrorist strike on the transportation of fuel, and waste management strategies.
As part of their community engagement, an educational website is in the process of being created and could be launched within the next six weeks.
Skarsen commented that he hopes people will take the time to consider this new technology, and dispel the myths associated with the antiquated technology of the ‘60s to ‘80s.
“The tax base revenue that it will bring will be a $3.6 billion assessment, so we’re looking at around $40 million a year in tax revenues that will be realized . . . They’ve come a long way and they’re sprouting up all throughout Canada,” said Skarsen.
Bridge explained that there will be no funding requests as Nucleon Energy will fund all the development costs. No decisions were made by council regarding the information presented.