Alberta has first tampered with nuclear power. Is it ready to make a step now?

While Alberta can be best known for its oil and gas industry, this week a conference in the city of Edmonton is hypnotizing another form of energy: atom.

May Wong, a senior vice president of Power Generator Capital Power, said, “The capacity here is tremendous here,” said, “May Wong, who is searching for the possibility of building small modular reactors (SMRS) In Alberta.

“We have a time where we can change our industry and create a new industry.”

Small in scale and output compared to a traditional atomic reactor, SMRs are created in a factory; In theory, they are cheap, safe and sharp to manufacture, and can be used in low -populated areas.

Nuclear power already exists New Breanswick and OntarioWith rely on atom for Ontario over half Its electricity. The province plans to increase its nuclear capacity through the use of SMRS-an initiative that made a list of recent fast-tracks of Ottawa “Nation-building projects,

Now Buzz has made its way to Alberta; The province recently installed one expert panel To find out the possibility of building reactors, and premiere Daniel Smith, who expressed Reservation Regarding renewal like wind and solar, “there is” Like a lot About atom. ,

Alberta has been here earlier. In 2008, it was also established Panel To detect the ability of nuclear power, but after a decade and a half, no atomic reactor can be seen.

So what has changed this time?

‘sample time

The appeal of nuclear power is that in an interview on the edge of the SMR Forum in Admonton, Alberta’s strength and utilities Minister Nathan Nudorf said that it can provide a lot of reliable electricity on the way to emission.

A part of the appeal is that Alberta is not going alone, he said. Instead, the province will jump on a global bandwagan.

Countries Worldwide A stable, low carbon source of electricity is scratched to ramping your atomic capacity as a way to achieve a low carbon source. And big name Technical companiesSuch as Microsoft, Google and Amazon, signed large purchase contracts to secure a stable supply of nuclear power for their growing AI and cloud services.

“All those things work together to make this time … make it ideal,” Nydorf said.

It is inspired by the expectations of fresh urgency of fresh urgency around nuclear power Grow From air conditioning to electric cars to AI data centers, everything due to increasing demand in decades in decades.

Alberta, especially, is also competing with a standing growth -driven demand population And plan to plan the province Center AI for data centers.

Energy Alberta CEO Scott Henuset created a similar point. His company plans to build a nuclear power station in Northern Alberta, although with a more traditional Candu-style Reactor With smrs instead.

“We think it is a place in all western Canada, secure electricity (supply) and increases grid stability,” Hensat said in a zoom interview this week.

But the economics of nuclear power in Alberta can create a challenge; Advance capital costs are high, which can make it a hard sales in a province where natural gas is abundant and already provides bulk Of electricity.

Estimated cost to develop four SMRs Ontario’s Darlington Power Plant About 21 billion dollars, while a large -scale atom Facility Georgia is priced at $ 35 billion for two manufactured-to-cruel reactors.

“Right now, the use of natural gas is clearly more cheaper,” said Dustin Wilks, president and CEO of the SMR project developer Calgary-based nuclean. “Short -term, it’s very difficult.”

Competition with natural gas

History has shown that the matter should be done.

In In the early 2000sThe company was later purchased by Bruce Power at Ontario, but when the price of natural gas collapsed a few years later, the project was abolished.

While the price of natural gas remains Less Henset said that global hunger for nuclear power has created a very different investment environment. The advance cost may be higher, he said, but how will long -term payment be given tall Atomic plants can run and how much demand Electricity is expected in decades.

Henset said, “There is economic viability for nuclear power; we won’t see it if it was not there,” Henset said.

When it comes to SMRS, in particular, with Wong, capital power, says that the cost of small, prefabricated reactors will probably be significantly reduced over time – A prediction echoed by industry supervisors and researchers,

Wilks said that while the nuclear power is new to Alberta, the advantage of the province is its deregated power system, which allows private operators to create and compete To sell electricity in the market,

Nevertheless, there are lots of details that anyone needs to iron before dividing atoms.

Wong said that while the appeal of the atom is that a power plant can last long – once manufactured, is relatively easy to maintain or upgrade – it also means that the cost of operating and necessary security protocols should also be factor. In several decades,

And atomic waste produced by power plants should be considered; There is hot debate in Ontario when possible The material is chosen to store.

“Because it is a very long period, from a development perspective, as well as a (operational perspective), that uncertainty increases much more than traditional techniques,” Wong said.

Utilities Minister Nudorf said that the province should first hear from Albertons whether he wants nuclear power in the first place. An online survey Looking for public input The bus closed on Thursday, while the request for information from industry and local governments is opened till 25 October.

Given concerns about safe storage of nuclear waste, public opinion and social acceptance can be a sticky point and Some high-profile problems With nuclear power plants in the past.

A 2009 report Commission by Alberta Government There was no recommendation about whether the province should proceed with developing the nuclear power plant industry, while stating that each form of power generation has its own business, such as emissions, use of water and overall expenses.

At the COP28 UN Climate Conference in 2023, Canada and many other countries made a pledge Tipping the amount of atomic electricity Worldwide by 2030.

For Henusets and Wilks, both CEOs hope that it will take its respective projects somewhere around a decade to get up and run.

By that point, they say, the demand for electricity will be even more – and the case will be more compelling for the atom.

“We believe in long -term … that the nuclear power wins,” Wilks said.