Canada can become a global hub for small modular reactor (SMR) research and technology with the completion of its first demonstration unit on a Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) site in Ontario before 2030.
A CNL spokesperson told NucNet Canada is “an active participant” in the race to deploy a functioning SMR and may have the inside track, based work being done at CNL, the research laboratory operator owned by state-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.
Dr Jeff Griffin, vice-president of science and technology at CNL, told NucNet deployment will not be simple, but favourable circumstances that could accelerate development are aligning to create the real possibility of deployment by the end of this decade.