New Brunswick (NB) Power in Canada will soon apply to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) in preparation for small modular reactors (SMR) at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station in Charlotte County.
     Heather McKnight is an engineer with NB Power. She said that the provincial utility is currently in the “pre-project” phase. It will soon be submitting a license to prepare to the CNSC. This is the first step in a three-step process to bring generation-four SMRs to the Canadian province. She went on to say to the Saint Andrews town council that “It will prepare the site for construction that will begin years down the road.”  She added that it will run in conjunction with environmental assessments.
     NB power hopes to submit the license to prepare by the end of June. The license will be the official start for the project which could see New Brunswick become the first province to generate electricity via a generation-four reactor that is more advanced than the current widely used CANDU reactor technology.
     ARC Clean Energy Canada is committed to a 2029 launch date for its SMR at the Point Lepreau facility.  Moltex Energy is also planning to deploy its SMR at Point Lepreau facility within a similar time frame.
      McKnight said that as a scale of reference for comparison, each of these SMRs will be approximately half the size of the Costco warehouse on Saint John’s east side. She added that there is potential to add more nuclear reactors in northern New Brunswick. She said, “These reactors aren’t just targeted for power production.” They can also be used to provide steam heating for industrial purposes.
     NB Power is currently mandated to provide four gigawatts of power at any given time. Currently about half of that power comes from “clean” sources, including hydro, nuclear, wind, solar and biomass. Additional energy is imported from Quebec and New England. The other half of the power is currently supplied by Belledune’s coal plant, the Coleson Cove generator in Lorneville, Millbank in Miramichi, and the Bayside generator. The last three generators run off natural gas or oil.
     New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Alberta have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) committing them to SMR development. Don Morgan is Saskatchewan’s Minister of Crown Investment Corporations and minister responsible for SaskPower. SaskPower is the principal electric utility in Saskatchewan, Canada. Established in 1929 by the provincial government, it serves more than 538,000 customers and manages over $11.8 billion in assets. Morgan toured Point Lepreau last summer. He said that his prairie province was locking east for inspiration on how to develop nuclear energy.
     In 2021, the federal government passed the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. This legislation outlines the country’s commitment to net-zero emission by 2050. Net-zero can be achieved by both reducing energy emissions and offsetting any carbon emissions by purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs). These are used to procure renewable energy sources.
     SNC Lavalin’s Net Zero 2050 report includes oil and gas use decreasing by thirty percent. This was done in part due to SMRs replacing fossil fuels.

Ambient office = 92 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Blueberry from Central Market = 90 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 106 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 83 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient office = 76 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 94 nanosieverts per hour

Asparagus from Central Market = 52 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 103 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 98 nanosieverts per hour

     Energy consultants Equilibrion and the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA) just issued a report titled Synthetic Fuels: The Opportunity for Economy Scale Production of Synthetic Fuels from Nuclear Energy that said that large-scale production of nuclear derived net-zero synthetic fuels could help hard-to-decarbonize sectors such as aviation and shipping. The transport sector is responsible for twenty seven percent of global greenhouse emissions.
     Synthetic fuels are not derived from fossil fuels. They
rely on carbon dioxide obtained from the environment and low carbon hydrogen feedstock to synthesize hydrogen-based fuels that perform like fossil fuels but with no net release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere”, according to the report. Synthetic fuel production can use CO2 from different sources including industrial emissions, direct air capture or seawater capture.
    The report adds, “The drawback is that synthetic fuel production routes are perceived as energy intensive and restricted in availability due to assessments which solely consider the use of renewable energy. This is where nuclear can deliver the solution needed … and unlock the path to far greater supply of synthetic fuels to the sectors which need it most, reducing emissions beyond what can be achieved with bio-fuel alternatives and even becoming carbon negative in the future.”
     The report goes on to say that heat and electricity generated by nuclear power plants can be used for all stages of the process. Seawater can be desalinated to produce pure water for hydrogen production. The report urges the U.K. government to recognize the potential role of nuclear power in its upcoming Sustainable Aviation Fuel Mandate. It also recommends that U.K. government and non-government net-zero modeling should include nuclear-derived synthetic fuels and that the government should “consider amendments to the Renewable Transport Fuels Obligation to enable nuclear to be exploited for the production of fuels in the wider low carbon fuels market.”
     Some of these measures are set to be moved forward by the U.K. government’s Energy Security Bill which is currently being considered by the House of Lords. It suggests including nuclear-derived fuels under renewable transport fuel schemes such as the production of sustainable aviation fuel and hydrogen.
     The new report predicts a global synthetic fuels market of fifteen billion dollars  by 2030 and six hundred billion dollars by 2050.
     Tom Greatrex is the chief executive of NIA which is the trade association for the civil sector in the U.K. He said, “Nuclear energy can play a crucial role in providing the primary energy to support the decarbonization of sectors which are currently almost entirely reliant on fossil fuels. The UK must take this golden opportunity to be a global leader and we stand ready to provide the energy that the market needs.”
     Phil Rogers is director of Equilibrion, which says its purpose “is to work with businesses to fulfil the potential of nuclear energy to decarbonize our heat, transport and industrial sectors.” He said, “The transport sector is responsible for close to a third of UK emissions, so the ability to directly replace fossil fuels with zero carbon equivalents, particularly for aviation, shipping and heavy transport, could have a game-changing impact on our journey to net-zero.”

Ambient office = 64 nanosieverts per hour

Ambient outside = 115 nanosieverts per hour

Soil exposed to rain water = 117 nanosieverts per hour

Avocado from Central Market = 96 nanosieverts per hour

Tap water = 143 nanosieverts per hour

Filter water = 136 nanosieverts per hour