Canada wants to develop mini-nuclear power plants

PHOTO AGENCE QMI, MATTHEW USHERWOOD

AFP

Thursday, February 22, 2018 12:43

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Thursday, February 22, 2018 12:43

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Canada wants to facilitate the development of “small nuclear reactors modular” can be deployed independently, for example in mines or in space exploration, announced on Thursday that the federal government.

Ottawa has mandated the canadian nuclear Association to prepare by the autumn a “roadmap” to identify “the priorities and challenges of the development and potential use of small modular reactors in Canada”, stated the ministry of natural Resources in a press release.

This framework will allow “to encourage innovation and establish a long-term vision” for the sector and “to evaluate the characteristics of different types of small modular reactor in accordance with the requirements of the users and canadian priorities”,-he explained.

This roadmap will help to better understand “the way in which we can develop and use this emerging technology,” said Kim Rudd, deputy minister of natural Resources.

The world nuclear Association said in November last that the small nuclear reactors that are modular, of a power less than 300 megawatts, were of interest both because of the cost savings they could produce and their self-reliance.

This lobby noted that these small reactors could be deployed in former coal mines for example, or in marine transport, in military facilities or in space missions.

In Canada, the mining groups have in the past expressed their interest for this technology to replace the gasoline generators in mines that are isolated from the Arctic.