nuclear-news

New Brunswick Premier Higgs says Canada’s federal government should give funding for small nuclear reactor projects.

NB Telegraph Journal , Adam Huras, Nov 22, 2023 

Premier Blaine Higgs says current federal support for new nuclear power isn’t enough, fearing a piecemeal approach to pursuing small modular reactor technology could see New Brunswick and the country fall behind in a global race.

Higgs made the comments on Wednesday to Brunswick News in reaction to the federal government’s fall economic statement………………………………

“At the end of the day we’re going to have to get to a situation like back in the CANDU reactor days when the federal government played a major role in nuclear development,” Higgs said.

“These are hugely costly items, both the research and then construction.

“I see a real need to get a whole pan-Canadian approach. And we’ll need serious financial support from the federal government to do that.”

Both the feds and two successive New Brunswick governments have already poured millions into the two companies that have set up in the province, while the feds have also contributed to others elsewhere in the country.

Now over two years ago, the federal government spent more than $50 million to subsidize Moltex’s work in developing its stable salt reactor technology in New Brunswick.

The Higgs government spent $20 million to support ARC around the same time.

The feds then announced another $7 million for ARC last month, specifically earmarked for “pre-development work” at Point Lepreau, where a first small modular reactor is slated to come online near the end of the decade.

But the money to date is not nearly enough.

After appearing before a legislative committee earlier this year, Moltex CEO Rory O’Sullivan said it’s still seeking more than $250 million from governments or the public utility over the next seven years in order to build its SMR technology.

ARC executives appeared before the same legislative committee for what they said is a $1.1-billion project.

Higgs is now suggesting a pooled focus on finding a technology that works and can be deployed across the country and sold abroad…………………………………….

Green bonds are designed to raise funds to invest in environmental or climate change mitigation projects. Investors purchase bonds and receive periodic interest payments and the repayment of their initial investment at a future date in exchange for upfront cash.

But nuclear projects weren’t originally considered “green” under the initial criteria………………………

 https://tj.news/new-brunswick/higgs-says-federal-support-for-new-nuclear-power-isnt-enough—

November 24, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | politics