Ambient office = 82 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 113 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 114 nanosieverts per hour

Corn from Central Market = 29 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 87 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 73 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 73 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 90 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 93 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 138 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 130 nanosieverts per hour

Dover Sole from Central = 98 nanosieverts per hour

     Ontario Power Generation (OPG) will construct and operate four small modular reactors (SMRs) at its Darlington site. It is estimated that these SMRs will contribute about eleven billion dollars to Canada’s GDP. This will include about one billion dollars to Ontario’s GDP. The SMRs will create and sustain two thousand jobs every year in Canada over the next sixty-five years. This information was reported by the Conference Board of Canada (CBC).
     The SMR report said, “There is now an increasing need for investing in stable and reliable energy resources, such as commercial-scale SMR technology. The deployment of more nuclear power in Ontario is a major investment decision. It is therefore important to understand the potential economic benefits for the province and the country of investing in new nuclear power generation.”
     The CBC collaborated with OPG to analyze the economic impact and fiscal benefits of building and operating four SMRs at the Darlington site. It found that the SMRs would have a significant positive impact on the Ontario and Canadian economies. Ontario would reap eighty nine percent of the economic benefit associated with the project.
     Each SMR constructed would increase GDP by almost two billion seven hundred million dollars and provide five hundred jobs annually over the sixty-five year period. In addition, the amount of tax revenues accruing to all levels of government is expected to be about three billion five hundred million dollars over the next sixty-five years. This includes plant construction and operations. The estimated number of jobs created by the project will be about one hundred and thirteen thousand jobs provincially and one hundred and twenty-eight thousand jobs nationally.
     The CBC found that “The economic impact, or the ratio of increased GDP to spending (the ‘economic multiplier’) is 0.82 – each dollar spent would increase Canadian GDP by CAD0.82 across the total lifespan of the technologies.”
     On October last year, OPG submitted an application to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) for a license to construct a GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) BWRX-300 at the Darlington site. This license is required before any nuclear construction work on the SMR can start. Site preparation has already begun at the site. OPG intends to make a construction decision by the end of 2024. Construction of the reactor is scheduled to be finished by late 2028. The supply of power to the Ontario grid should start in 2029.
     The Ontario government announced last July that it is working with OPG to start planning and licensing for three additional BWRX-300 reactors at Darlington. Subject to Ontario government and CNSC regulatory approvals on construction. The additional SMRs could come online between 2034 and 2036. This scheduling would permit OPG to apply earnings from the construction of the first SMR to deliver cost savings on subsequent SMRs. Constructing multiple units will also permit common infrastructure such as cooling water intake, transmission connection and control room to be used by all four units instead of just one, which would further reduce cost.
     Ken Hartwick is the OPG President and CEO. He said, “Being the first North American mover of this innovative technology positions Ontario as a world leader in nuclear and a welcoming destination for new business. Our plan to construct four new reactors at Darlington will also generate opportunities across Ontario and Canada as suppliers of nuclear components and services have an opportunity to expand to serve the growing SMR market here and abroad.”

Ambient office = 85 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Bannana from Central Market = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 95 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 85 nanosieverts per hour

     Following months of negotiations, the European Council (EC) has reached an agreement on a proposal to amend the European Union (EU) electricity market design. They agreed to include existing nuclear plants in the reform. The agreement could result in France dropping a scheme forcing state-controlled utility EDF to sell part of its nuclear energy production to competitors below market-level prices.
     The EC stated that the reform aims to “make electricity prices less dependent on volatile fossil fuel prices, shield consumers from price spikes, accelerate the deployment of renewable energies and improve consumer protection”. The proposal is part of a wider reform of the E.U.’s electricity market design. This reform movement also includes a regulation focused on improving the E.U. protection against market manipulation through better monitoring transparency.
     The EC said, “The reform aims to steady long-term electricity markets by boosting the market for power purchase agreements (PPAs) generalizing two-way contracts for difference (CfDs) and improving the liquidity of the forward market. The Council agreed that member states would promote uptake of power purchase agreements by removing unjustified barriers and disproportionate or discriminatory procedures or charges. Measures may include among other things, state-backed guarantee schemes at market prices, private guarantees, or facilities pooling demand for PPAs.”
     The EC is made up of representatives of the governments of E.U. member states. They agreed that two-way contracts for difference (CfDs) would be the mandatory model used when public funding is involved in long-term contracts with some exceptions. These contracts would apply to investments in new power-generating facilities based on wind energy, solar energy, geothermal energy, hydropower without reservoir and nuclear energy.
     The EC also agreed to remove the temporary nature of capacity mechanisms, support measures that member states can introduce remunerate power plants in order to guarantee medium and long-term security of electricity supply.
     The European Commission adopted the proposals on the reform of the E.U.’s electricity market design on the 14th of March. But, a dispute between France and Germany over the role of nuclear power in European climate action has dominated negotiation for months.
     Under the terms of the agreement, France will now be able to finance the extension of the operation of its existing fleet of nuclear reactors with two-ways CfDs. This is in line with the Commission’s initial proposal.
     Currently, under the so-called Regulated Access to Incumbent Nuclear Electricity (Accès Régulé à l’Electricité Nucléaire Historique, ARENH) mechanism set up to foster competition, rival energy suppliers can buy electricity produced by EDF’s fleet of French nuclear power plants that were commissioned before the 8th of December 2010. Under this type of contract, between July 2011 and December 2025, suppliers can buy up to one hundred terawatts representing twenty five percent of EDF annual nuclear production at a fixed price of forty-seven dollars per megawatt. EDF operates fifty-seven reactors in France. The combined capacity of these reactors is about sixty-two gigawatts which is about seventy-five percent of the country’s electricity,
     Under the agreement reached by the EC, the ARENH mechanism could be replaced by CfDs with it expires at the end of 2025. The current agreement has resulted in lost earnings for EDF.
     The EC’s agreement will serve as a mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament on the final shape of the legislation. The outcome of the negotiations will have to be formally adopted by the EC and the Parliament.

Ambient office = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 97 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 96 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 100 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 104 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 98 nanosieverts per hour

     The Government of Canada has announced about fifteen million dollars in federal funding to support the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to help enable a phase out-out of coal-fired electricity generation by 2030. The funding includes five million dollars for a small modular reactor (SMR) at Point Lepreau in New Brunswick.
     Canadian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc, and Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Honorable Sean Fraser, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, Minister of Natural Resources and Renewables of Nova Scotia Tory Rushton and New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs met on the 16th of October of this year. They agreed to a Joint Policy Statement on Developing and Transmitting Clean, Reliable and Affordable Power in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The Statement outlined a two-track collaborative program to reach these goals.
     Under the first track of the project, the provincial and federal governments will identify the required investments to support the phase-out of coal-fired electricity by 2030 and the transition to clean energy. Under the second track of the project, the parties agreed to “confirm and advance areas of critical importance and cooperation on the path to net-zero electricity by 2035”. These areas of interest include SMRs in New Brunswick and offshore wind installation in Nova Scotia. Both of these provinces will work on batteries and renewable integration, solar, hydrogen-capable/flex fuel generators, and smart grid management tools.
     In addition to the joint policy statement, the Government of Canada said that it will provide federal funding of eight million four hundred thousand dollars to improve grid systems monitoring and automation to support innovation and transformation required for that province to adopt clean generation and manage its transition off coal. Eight million dollars will be provided to support pre-development of ARC Clean Technology Canada’s SMR at Point Lepreau in New Brunswick. An additional one million four hundred sixty thousand dollars will be supplied to help explore the feasibility of converting the Belledune coal-fired Generation Station in New Brunswick for coal to sustainably sourced biomass. Finally, seven hundred and fourteen thousand dollars will assist the Belledune Port Authority undertake site preparedness studies to establish an industrial green hub.
     Wilkinson said, “Canada’s commitment to decarbonizing our electricity grid is foundational to address the global fight against climate change and to seize the economic opportunities associated with the transition to a clean grid from coast to coast to coas. Today’s investments will help drive clean electricity development for Nova Scotians and New Brunswickers and establish a pathway to achieve a clean, reliable and affordable electricity system for generations to come.”
     Higgs added that “It is important to realize that none of this will be possible without substantial federal funding, and I look forward to future commitment in that regard.”
     The ARC 100 is a one-hundred-megawatt sodium-cooled fast reactor. It has been selected for a demonstration project at New Brunswick Power’s Point Lepreau nuclear power plant site as part of a joint strategic plan for SMR deployment by the provincial governments of Ontario, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and Alberta. The demonstration reactor is slated for commissioning by 2029, subject to approvals and licensing. Belledune Port Authority has also previously expressed interest in using SMRs as part of a green energy hub.