OPG and GEH will collaborate on SMR engineering, design, planning, preparing the licencing and permitting materials, and site preparation for the BWRX-300.
Site preparation for the SMR could begin in the spring of 2022. OPG’s goal is to apply to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for a construction licence by the end of 2022.
Darlington, north of Toronto on the shore of Lake Ontario, is the only site in Canada with an approved environmental assessment and regulatory licence for new nuclear.
The other SMRs under consideration for the site were X-energy’s Xe-100 and Terrestrial Energy’s IMSR400.
The Darlington plant will be one of the first commercial SMRs in the world and will serve as a reference plant for future SMR deployments.
The BWRX-300 is a 300-MW water-cooled, natural circulation SMR with passive safety systems and based on an existing boiling water reactor design that is licensed in the US. It also uses an existing, licensed fuel design.
A plant can be built in 24-36 months – years quicker than any largescale nuclear plant. It is approximately 10% of the size and complexity of a large nuclear project, substantially reducing project risk and total capital cost requirements.
“With today’s announcement, Ontario is leading the way in new nuclear technologies – like SMRs – that represent tremendous economic and environmental opportunities for our province and all of Canada,” said energy minister Todd Smith.
“SMRs can provide reliable and emission-free energy while creating jobs, economic growth and export opportunities. Our opportunity to be a leader in this technology and showcase Ontario’s nuclear expertise to the world is right now.”
OPG said the Darlington SMR will provide a critical new source of clean nuclear energy for Ontario’s future projected energy capacity needs – a demand widely expected to increase as transportation and other sectors electrify. The company noted that international bodies, including the International Energy Agency have been clear that climate change initiatives will fall short without nuclear power as part of the electricity supply mix.
A single SMR of about 300 MW can prevent between 0.3 megatonnes (MT) to 2 MT of carbon dioxide emissions per year, depending on where it is located and what kind of power it is displacing.
The SMR project could create an annual average of 700 jobs during project development, 1,600 jobs during manufacturing and construction, 200 jobs during 60 years of operations and 160 jobs during decommissioning.
OPG said the impact on GDP could reach more than CAD2.5bn (USD1.95bn) and result in an increase of provincial revenues of more than CAD870m.
GEH has signed a number of agreements related to the planned development and deployment of the BWRX-300. In Poland, the company is targeting 2030 for completion of its first plant – to be built either at the site of the Patnow coal plant about 200 km west of Warsaw or at a site proposed by state oil and petrol company PKN Orlen.
Background: The Reasons For Global Interest In SMRs
Global interest in SMRs has been increasing, driven by the need for reliable, low-carbon power that can be deployed almost anywhere. SMRs can provide power that is emissions-free during operation; and they can do so to existing grids and small grid systems or locations where there is no grid at all. Whole plants can be made in a factory and transported on the back of a truck and installed wherever they are needed – electricity for an isolated mine or desalination for a remote island community.
Cogeneration is another factor for rising interest in SMRs. These small plants can provide reliable energy in the form of both baseload electricity and heat. The baseload power will complement renewables while the heat – much of which is lost in a traditional nuclear plant – will be used to power carbon-intensive industries such as steel and cement making, drastically reducing emissions. Developers are also designing SMRs that can be used for the production of green hydrogen.