Small modular reactors (SMRs) are defined as nuclear reactors that generate three hundred megawatts or less. There has been a lot on interest and investment in developing these reactors as a better choice for the use of nuclear power to offset carbon emission than construction of more big conventional nuclear power reactors now in use.
Some of the arguments in favor of SMRs are that they are easier to construct, safer than large standard reactors, should be considered as cleaner that burning coal to generate electricity and are small enough to fit in a school gymnasium. They would be built in modules in factories and then transported to the locations where they will be used. Factory manufacture should allow better quality control.
Theresa McClenaghan is the executive director of the Canadian Environmental Law Association. She has said that she believes that SMRs have serious problems, especially when they are compared to renewable energy technologies. McClenaghan made these comments after it was announced that New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs, Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Ontario Premier Doug Ford have agreed to collaborate in the development of SMRs for their respective Canadian provinces. The three Canadian provincial premiers say that SMRs would assist Canada in achieving carbon reduction targets. Canada’s nuclear regulators have already received requests to review SMRs as part of a pre-licensing process.
McClenaghan strongly disagrees with the three premiers on the subject of SMRs. She said "I don't think it is the answer. I don't think it's a viable solution to climate change." She also said that the technology required for SMRs is still in early development and years of work will be necessary before it could be implemented across Canada.
McClenaghan said, “There are many issues still with the technology. And for climate change, the risks are so pervasive and the time scale is so short that we need to deploy the solutions we already know about like renewables and conservation.”
McClenaghan has pointed to the problem of nuclear waste disposal in her comments about SMRs. She said, “You're still creating radioactive waste. We don't even have a solution to nuclear fuel waste yet in Canada and the existing plans are not taking into account these possibilities.” It is estimated that Canada currently has fifty-seven thousand tons of spent nuclear fuel and no permanent way of disposing of this nuclear waste.
McClenaghan is also concerned that there are national security problems with widespread deployment of SMRs in Canada. She points out that the deployment of SMRs in Canada would result in the construction of many more nuclear reactors, some of which will be in rural areas. This means that the possibility of the theft of nuclear materials increases, especially in the rural areas. She said, "You'd be scattering radioactive materials, potentially attractive to diversion, much further across the country.”
Critics of SMRs say that if there is a problem with quality control in the factories where SMRs are made, all of the SMRs from a production run could have the same flaw. Also, while there is less cost in manufacture and less cost in site preparation, the question still remains of whether three hundred megawatt SMRs would be substantially cheaper than a single gigawatt convention nuclear power reactor.