Canada’s planned rollout of small modular reactors could increase reliance on foreign nuclear fuel and reactor technology, according to a York University energy policy expert who argues the shift may conflict with Ottawa’s broader goals of energy security and domestic industrial development.
York University professor Mark Winfield said on Tuesday that Canada faces a fundamental fuel challenge with the next generation of reactors.
Unlike existing CANDU reactors, the proposed small modular reactor designs require enriched uranium.
Canada currently mines, refines and converts uranium but does not enrich it domestically.
Consequently, governments would either import enriched fuel or invest billions to establish a domestic enrichment industry.
Winfield said the United States would likely become the primary fuel supplier under the import option.
He argued that dependence could create new energy security risks in the current geopolitical environment.
Ontario Power Generation is building a GE Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor at the Darlington nuclear site.
However, Winfield said the project also raises broader questions about Canada’s long-term nuclear strategy because the country would depend on foreign reactor technology and imported fuel instead of relying primarily on domestic capabilities that supported earlier nuclear programs.
Canada originally developed the CANDU system around Canadian reactor technology and natural uranium fuel.
Meanwhile, newer reactor projects increasingly rely on foreign vendors and enriched uranium produced outside Canada.
Winfield said Canada could eventually develop its own enrichment industry if governments committed sufficient funding.
He added that the domestic market alone may not justify such a large investment.
Furthermore, he said a commercially viable enrichment industry would probably require exports to support long-term operating costs and recover billions in capital spending.
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Ottawa emphasizes nuclear over other alternative energy sources
Winfield also warned that uranium enrichment carries international security implications. This is because the technology can produce civilian reactor fuel or weapons-grade material, depending on the enrichment level.
He said the federal nuclear strategy gives too little attention to those non-proliferation concerns.
Additionally, Winfield argued that Canada’s domestic reactor design capacity declined after the federal government shifted Atomic Energy of Canada Limited away from selling new CANDU reactors during the 1990s.
AtkinsRéalis (TSE: ATRL) is developing a next-generation CANDU reactor, although Winfield said commercial deployment remains several years away.
However, provinces seeking new nuclear capacity before then continue evaluating American and American-Japanese reactor designs. They do this because they offer earlier deployment timelines and established commercial development programs.
Furthermore, Winfield criticized Ottawa’s broader electricity strategy for emphasizing nuclear power and natural gas while giving comparatively less attention to renewable energy, geothermal power, electricity storage and energy efficiency, arguing that the current approach may favour established industries over emerging domestic technologies.
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