Alberta and Saskatchewan: MOU on Nuclear Power

[Stinky Buffalo]

Interesting news about a Memorandum of Understanding between AB and SK regarding SMRs:

Sask., Alberta to collaborate on nuclear power generation
The 2 Prairie provinces will share information as part of a memorandum of understanding.

Alberta and Saskatchewan will collaborate on nuclear power generation as part of a memorandum of understanding unveiled Thursday morning.

Dustin Duncan, Saskatchewan's minister responsible for SaskPower, was joined by Nathan Neudorf, Alberta's minister for affordability and utilities, at a news conference in Regina.

The agreement between the two Prairie provinces will see them share information around workforce development, nuclear supply chain, the security of supply of nuclear fuels, and the development and regulation of nuclear reactor technologies such as small modular reactors (SMRs).

"Saskatchewan has a long-standing co-operative relationship with Alberta on energy development, and we share similar challenges and opportunities related to decarbonization," said Duncan in a news release.

Alberta government considering conventional nuclear power plants, minister says SaskPower signs deal with GE Hitachi to develop nuclear power in the province Neudorf agreed, saying he's looking forward to the partnership.

"Our provinces are leading the world in responsible energy development, and we look forward to learning from Saskatchewan's experience with nuclear generation," he said.

What is an SMR?

Like their name implies, SMRs are much smaller than traditional nuclear reactors. They can also be manufactured elsewhere and assembled on site.

While a conventional nuclear reactor generates about 1,000 megawatts of energy, SMRs generate between 200 and 300 megawatts — enough to power about 300,000 homes.

The idea is to help fuel a transition to net-zero emissions.

What role should small nuclear reactors play in meeting Saskatchewan's net-zero goals?

The Saskatchewan government has gone all in when it comes to Nuclear Power. $80M will be spent on research with the hopes of bringing a microreactor to the province. Proponents tout small modular reactors as a reliable power source with zero greenhouse gas emissions. But not everyone thinks this is the way to go. Today we heard some of the concerns people have about this emerging technology, and we heard from groups who will be directly affected by this industry including the Mayor of Estevan and the First Nations Power Authority.

In 2019, Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick agreed to co-operate in developing plans for SMRs.

Alberta would join the agreement in 2020.

Saskatchewan has entrusted Crown corporation SaskPower with its exploration of the technology.

So far, SaskPower has identified Estevan, located in the province's southeast, and Elbow, located midway between Saskatoon and Regina, as two sites that could potentially host SMRs.

A final decision on the location to build a reactor is not expected until late 2024, and final decision on whether to build an SMR in Saskatchewan is not expected until 2029.

If approved, construction could begin as early as 2030, with the first SMR in Saskatchewan becoming operational sometime in 2034.

In Alberta, the push for SMRs has only recently moved to the feasibility study stage. An agreement between Capital Power and Ontario Power Generation to study feasibility of building SMRs to generate power was announced in January 2024.

In March, Neudorf mused about Alberta adopting conventional nuclear power plants, such as the ones already in use in New Brunswick and Ontario.

Ontario is currently building the first of four SMRs at its nuclear facility in Darlington.

From https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saska...ium%3Dsharebar

[CNP]

Good news

[CBintheNorth]

Excellent news.
Once one SMR is commissioned, the next step should be to start removing all those bird killers that ruin the landscape all over the southern half of the province.
They will no longer be necessary.
Once the second SMR is commissioned, they can look at those ridiculous solar farms.

[Stinky Buffalo]

Yup, now cue the hippies!

[Drewski Canuck]

Proposed site selection seems to lean more to export to the US than it does to Industry.

Nuclear Power could be used to heat heavy oil such as is found in the Lloydminster pool, as well as the Cenovus / Husky facility at Lloydminster. The use of Thermal Assisted Gravity Drainage would mean no steam needed, and enhanced recovery from fields in the area with heavy oil that is not easily recoverable at present without serious steam assistance.

Imagine oven rods put into horizontal well bores running off of nuclear power, dripping heated oil that can easily be recovered.

Imagine the oil recovery from all those old wells that don't flow very well any more after 25 years of extraction. Casing and tank farms are already in place.

Imagine the power that could be sent to Saskatchewan's Potash mines for their processes from the Lloydminster area to Eastern Saskatchewan.

Anyway, there must be an agenda to Estavan's location that I don't see, unless it is power exports to the US.

Drewski

[W921]

Apparently they can use decommissioned nuclear cold war bombs and missiles for fuel. Basically taking waste and turning into clean fuel. The new nuclear plant designs are easy safer than 70s technology

[Grizzly Adams1]

the Russians had a solution .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NT8-b5YEyjo

[Homesteader]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

Anyway, there must be an agenda to Estavan's location that I don't see, unless it is power exports to the US.

Drewski

Well besides the fact it’s already got Power production , plus all the distribution down there, and it’s relatively low population, there is possibly more to it.

They can wheel power an awful long way, with minimal losses.

[Strait Shooter]

Originally Posted by Homesteader

Well besides the fact it’s already got Power production , plus all the distribution down there, and it’s relatively low population, there is possibly more to it.

They can wheel power an awful long way, with minimal losses.

I'd guess the choice of Estevan is mostly political, offering an alternative in response to eventually shutting down coal mining in the area.

[Grizzly Adams1]

Next question ? Where are going to get fissile material ? No shortage in this country, but getting it out of the ground and refining it might be a different story.

[HyperMOA]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

Anyway, there must be an agenda to Estavan's location that I don't see, unless it is power exports to the US.

Drewski

The fact that Estevan has produced electricity for about 100 years may play more role in it than politics. It was the largest producer of power in SK, and still has the capacity of the grid right there might have more to do with it than politics. As they close in Shand and Boundary they can literally plug in half a dozen SMRs. There is the boundary damn right there for cooling already.

As for 100 years ago they produced electricity in Estevan not for political reasons, but that is where the coal was mined. Same thing with Coronach.

[Drewski Canuck]

Gee,

I guess I was right in the reason for Estavan as the location.

If Sask Power shutters the thermal coal power generation at Estavan, a nuclear reactor already has most of the infrastructure for a power station readily at hand.

SO as I said, there could be a very good reason for decarbonizing the oil industry around Lloydminister while enhancing recovery of the remaining heavy oil stuck in the formations through a nuclear power station in the Lloydminster area.

Drewski

[dodgeboy1979]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

Gee,

I guess I was right in the reason for Estavan as the location.

If Sask Power shutters the thermal coal power generation at Estavan, a nuclear reactor already has most of the infrastructure for a power station readily at hand.

SO as I said, there could be a very good reason for decarbonizing the oil industry around Lloydminister while enhancing recovery of the remaining heavy oil stuck in the formations through a nuclear power station in the Lloydminster area.

Drewski

years ago Bruce Power was pushing a plant on the NSR northeast of Lloyd. They wanted to dam the river around Battleford for the reservoir. They met a pretty stong opposition in the area.

[aulrich]

Originally Posted by Drewski Canuck

Imagine oven rods put into horizontal well bores running off of nuclear power, dripping heated oil that can easily be recovered.

Imagine the oil recovery from all those old wells that don't flow very well any more after 25 years of extraction. Casing and tank farms are already in place.

Drewski

This may not be an entirely crazy idea, here is an illustration from an odd source Scottish MRE's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ry4QBQejFU

To be honest it would take some convincing for me not to eat my meal cold, but the concept exists.

[Drewski Canuck]

Aulrich,

Thermal Assisted Gravity Drainage was done as a pilot project by Shell Canada at Chipewyen Lake using essentially oven rods powered by electricity to melt heavy oil, instead of Steam.

This was going to be the process employed at Carmden Creek by Peace River, which is why there was talk of a nuclear Power Plant at Peace River in the early 2000's. Instead, Site "C" on the Peace River was started.

However, the idea of Plutonium rods as a heat source is pretty neat. The rods can then be left in the formation as it would be under about 1000 meters or more of rock.

As for a heat source for my army rations, I think I would rather throw that thing at the enemy and go home.

I really want to believe that the Youtube Video was a spoof, but then I remembered how much Scots like to smoke and drink.

Drewski

[aulrich]

BigClieve is reasonably reliable for a youtubber he does not shy away from a laugh heck I have eaten a 5 year expired mre and I only twitch a bit

[silver]

Originally Posted by dodgeboy1979

years ago Bruce Power was pushing a plant on the NSR northeast of Lloyd. They wanted to dam the river around Battleford for the reservoir. They met a pretty stong opposition in the area.

There was talk about 40 years ago of a dam at highgate and i phoned saskwater some years back and asked them about it and they said there was too much resistance but they were considering a number of smaller dams going back to the alberta border.

[outofbounds]

The DNNP development is underway, owned by OPG and being developed by a partnership between Aecon, GE Hitachi and Atkins Realis (SNC-Lavelin). Imagine that!

Nuclear waste storage, followed by water will be the largest hurdles for nuclear development outside of existing footprints. There is plenty to read up on on the DNNP project, the refurbishments at Darlington, the Bruce and what Pickering has in store.

Nuclear waste and storage of said waste off of operating plant battery limits is one topic currently on the table in Ontario. As off plot sites are currently being identified by NWMO for storage of used nuclear fuel deep into the Canadian shield.

DGR development requires host communities to identify a willingness to participate, even in the far north, way away from metro and suburbia. Plenty of $$$ being waved around to some have not communities.

Ontario currently is a hot spot for power generation development and transmission projects, OPG has the nukes, but they are also looking at additional new hydro developments, several refurbishments due to EOL of equipment originally put into service in the '30s.

Mining, both for precious metals and electro metals has HONI and the IESO working OT developing and bolstering the grid throughout the North and South.

A Lithium Refinery (converter), the first for Ontario is being developed with deep sea port loadouts at the head of Lake Superior so Lithium bearing Spodumene can be refined to travel via the St. Lawrence Sea Way to fuel Europe's first Lithium converter in Guben, Germany fueling EV markets.

All large GC constructors and engineering firms from Canada are participating in these developments.

My weekly travels include these power generation and transmission markets, I see several Alberta based companies in the mix, and the majority of flights are full with workers from western provinces working in the power generation, mining and large transmission projects currently on the go in the east.

From conversations on the flights, many shared the slowdown in the west ultimately made the decision for them to travel 3 or 4 provinces east to work.
For many, it was their first time having to do so.

For the utility markets, manpower is at a premium as the demand for workforce is peaking with large projects across Canada and especially in the US. The power sector whether generation or grid construction and maintenance will be hot for the next 10 years at least.

[stubblejumper01]

I can’t help wondering what the risk to the surrounding area would be if someone decided to blow one up? Wouldn’t it be like a dirty bomb and potentially contaminate the area for a long time? I’m sure security would be substantial but not foolproof.
Other than that I do think that they are going to be the best option to provide the electricity we are going to need for all the electric vehicles we are going to be forced to buy

[outofbounds]

Infrastructure needs for EV vehicles has not been on the table yet for many utilities. The focus thus far has been industrial loads, export, reliability and expansion for residential requirements including joint use for Dx(distribution) and fiber to home, including rural. Generation and Transmission export is big business for many utilities.