Ontario nuclear decision needed: industry group

Advanced CANDU Reactor (ACR) positions Canada in nuclear energy, using light-water coolant over heavy water; AECL seeks commitment as Ontario debates costs, procurement, R&D, global reactor competitiveness, market leadership, and supply chains.

Ontario and the federal government must come up with a joint strategy to build a nextgeneration nuclear reactor in Ontario, or risk permanently shrinking the sector, says the head a nuclear industry suppliers’ group.

Neil Alexander, president of the Organization of CANDU Industries, said in an interview that competitors in other countries will race ahead if Canada doesn’t make a commitment to the Advanced Candu Reactor, or ACR.

The ACR is still being developed.

A decision to build Candu 6 reactors – which are already operating abroad – would be no better, he said, because it will keep Canada from further developing its nuclear technology.

The ACR is a step up on previous Candu reactors because it uses ordinary “light” water as a coolant, rather than “heavy” water, which must be manufactured or extracted.

“We’re very supportive of the ACR as an opportunity to get into the world’s mass market and retain ourselves as a significant player rather than a niche player,” he said.

Ontario walked away last June from the ACR, developed by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., saying its price tag was “billions” too high.

Meanwhile, the federal government is trying to restructure AECL, possibly finding a new owner.

A new owner will be a lot easier to find if an Ontario commitment to a new reactor is made, said Alexander. That means the two governments should get together to find a way to work on both sides of the problem at once.

Some industry players have suggested Ontario buy the alreadydeveloped Candu 6, but Alexander said that would effectively halt new product development at AECL.

“If we lose the ACR, that takes us out of R and D and risks an energy shortfall for Ontario,” he said.

“We cease to be a leader in the world and become a small supplier of bits and pieces. I think that would be a huge disappointment for a nation that is increasingly losing its leadership, and falling back on digging things out of the ground and selling them to the Chinese.”

Jack Gibbons, who heads the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, says that track record should discourage the province from the nuclear option in general.

“Every nuclear project in Ontario’s history has gone over budget,” he said in an interview.

“We need to pursue the lower cost options,” he said.

Those include increasing energy efficiency building combined heat and power plants – which take heat vented by natural gasburning power plants, say, and use it to heat nearby buildings and water power imports from Quebec.

Brad Duguid, Ontario’s energy minister, said in an interview that the province is still talking to both the federal government and AECL.

“We’ve made it clear that we want to move more aggressively toward a solution. We’ve communicated that to AECL and the federal government after federal cash for AECL was announced,” he said. “It’s time to get on with it.”

He would not comment on whether moving to Candu 6 reactors instead of the ACR is an option, amid rising Areva competition in Ontario.

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