Sask. establishes office to continue planning for nuclear power

Saskatchewan’s examination of nuclear power took another step forward Wednesday.

In a media release, the provincial government announced the establishment of the Nuclear Secretariat. Its primary mandate, the release said, will be “the development and execution of a strategic plan for deployment of clean energy small modular reactors.”

Premier Scott Moe signed a memorandum of understanding with Ontario Premier Doug Ford and New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs in December, under which the provinces promised to work together on the development and deployment of small modular reactors.

The next day, Environment Minister Dustin Duncan said Saskatchewan was set to examine all options — including nuclear power.

The creation of the office of the Nuclear Secretariat continues that process.

“As we’re going through this process of looking at whether or not SMRs would be the right fit for Saskatchewan, obviously SaskPower will continue to have a role in that in terms of power supply, how do you integrate that into the grid, the way that it would be procured, but we are coming to understand that there are a lot of questions that really lie outside of the mandate of SaskPower,” said Environment Minister Dustin Duncan.

The group will look at things like how SMRs might fit into climate change plans, issues around the labour force, municipal, provincial and federal regulations, and supply chain issues.

Duncan said the time frame for a possible SMR project hasn’t changed; the province is still looking at 2030. But Duncan said there will be questions that need to be answered long before that, and the secretariat will make sure there are answers.

Small modular reactors can produce electricity in the range of 50 to 300 megawatts, whereas standard nuclear power plants range between 600 and 1,600 megawatts. The small modular reactors can provide baseload power for an electrical grid.

Duncan said there will likely be five people on the team and he didn’t have any budget implications yet because he didn’t know whether the people will come from inside or outside government.