More than 400 nuclear reactors will be built around the world in the coming decades, and Canada can turn itself into an energy “superpower” by winning its share of them, says the president of an Organization of Candu Industries.
But Neil Alexander told the Economic Club of Toronto Tuesday that delays in deciding the fate of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) could put Canada out of the contest.
“We are being left behind as this wave of opportunity develops,” Alexander said Tuesday.
The federal government is mulling the sale of AECL but has made no decision yet. The members of Alexander’s organization are the firms that supply goods and services for AECL’s Candu reactors.
Alexander pointed to the recent sale of four reactors to the United Arab Emirates, a deal worth $20 billion U.S. That’s the equivalent of selling a million cars in one deal, he said.
Canada will always be play a role the nuclear industry because of its uranium mines, Alexander said.
“But the real value in this business lies in selling, servicing and operating reactors,” he said. “If we want to be a superpower, that’s where we should be setting our sights.”
If Canada doesn’t seize the current opportunity, its nuclear reactors will become a footnote in history, he said.
Countries building new reactors want to buy their entire fleet from the same source, using the same technology, he said, so it’s important to get in early on the new wave of construction.
AECL has two potential reactors for sale. The smaller Candu 6 reactor uses natural uranium, and is already in commercial operation, Alexander noted. There’s a possibility it could be adapted to use thorium as a fuel. It’s cheaper and more widespread than uranium.
AECL is also working on a next-generation reactor, the Advanced Candu Reactor or ACR, but is still looking for place to build the first commercial unit.
“If we can make a commercial success of that, we are guaranteed superpower status,” he said.
Skeptics have pointed to the checkered record of AECL in Canada, where nuclear projects have run hugely over budget. Ontario electricity customers continue to pay off the debts run up by the province’s nuclear fleet – although defenders point out that half the province’s power comes from nuclear reactors.
Alexander said one risk that must be avoided is to allow AECL to be broken up, or to fade away, to the extent that it can no longer service existing reactors that still have decades of life left in them.
“You’ve got to be absolutely sure we’ve got a sufficient nucleus of people together to make sure we’re supporting the existing fleet,” he said.
