This green city is trying a mini nuclear reactor. Why isn’t Australia?
In the first instalment of the Nuclear Options series, the energy minister of a populous Canadian province says new-generation reactors are less intimidating than their large-scale predecessors – and this is enough for a rethink in some parts of the world.
$1.1 billionMoney available to start work on first SMR
1.2 millionNumber of households to be served by first SMR
1.2 million gigawattsAmount of energy to serve 1.2 households
Less than an hour’s drive east of Toronto, the provincial power company covering Canada’s most populous city is embarking on the kind of multi-decade energy experiment the Labor government says makes no sense in Australia.
Preparatory work began late last year to build a small modular nuclear reactor on the shores of Lake Ontario with a $C970 million ($1.1 billion) loan from Canada Infrastructure Bank. The government corporation Ontario Power Generation announced last month that another three units would be added to the project.
