Brendan Frank, Clean Prosperity’s Vice President of Policy, made the following statement:
“The federal government’s nuclear energy strategy is an important step forward in strengthening Canada’s nuclear power sector and supporting provinces in expanding nuclear power generation.
“It complements a broader strategy of electrification supported by the federal government and led by provinces. Ottawa is right to acknowledge that its primary role is to help provinces with the big challenges of scaling up nuclear reactor construction.
“This federal role includes de-risking investment to draw in private capital, and providing financing support where needed. It also involves creating a more predictable regulatory process.
“The strategy announced today is one important step in the long process of expanding Canada’s nuclear generation fleet to help meet anticipated growth in electricity demand across the country. It codifies important principles that can enable the responsible buildout of nuclear power in Canada.
“The strategy announced today is one important step in the long process of expanding Canada’s nuclear generation fleet to help meet anticipated growth in electricity demand across the country.”
Brendan Frank, Vice President of Policy, Clean Prosperity
“These principles include fleet-based deployment of new nuclear reactors. Clean Prosperity has advocated for Canadian provinces to commit to a small number of specific reactor designs to enable economies of scale and the development of learning curves.
“The federal government is also right to support the development of a domestic nuclear supply chain, one that fosters Indigenous participation. Canada’s plans to build new nuclear reactors risk major cost overruns and stalled projects if supply-chain and workforce bottlenecks are not addressed.
“The high costs of reactor construction remain a significant challenge to deploying nuclear power generation at scale. These costs directly impact energy affordability, which is a key hurdle to public support for electrification overall. Consistent project execution will be essential for the sustained buildout of Canada’s nuclear power sector.
“The federal strategy’s support for the development of ten new large-scale reactors across Canada is suitably ambitious. Clean Prosperity’s research has found that there is room to more than triple Canadian nuclear capacity by mid-century if construction costs are competitive, and if federal and provincial governments provide the right signals to support electrification.”
