Brian Zinchuk is editor and owner of Pipeline Online
Artist rendition of a GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 reactor. GE-Hitachi
REGINA – Just as SaskEnergy has a wholly owned subsidiary responsible for its transmission pipelines by the way of TransGas, SaskPower is creating its own subsidiary to take care of its new venture into nuclear power.
On Sept. 4 SaskPower announced it has created a nuclear subsidiary called SaskNuclear to advance the province’s Small Modular Reactor project through the regulatory and licensing process as the utility works towards reaching net-zero by 2050 or sooner.
SaskNuclear will allow SaskPower to advance its small modular reactor (SMR) development project from a business and regulatory standpoint.
As SaskEnergy’s TransGas is a Crown corporation, SaskNuclear will likely fall in the same category.
SaskPower first announced it would be pursuing small modular reactors back in the spring of 2022, initially talking about up to four reactors. While that number has not settled down yet, the most recent talk has been of at least two GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 reactors, each capable of approximately 300 megawatts of power generation. However, as recently as last spring, Premier Scott Moe referenced the possibility of large 1,000 megawatt reactors in the future.
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And while the Government of Saskatchewan can’t formally say it is building a reactor until it gets federal licensure, with its final go/no go decision expected in 2029, it is clear the current provincial government is on the path to an extensive build-out of nuclear power generation.
“Canada’s nuclear industry is held to a very high standard, and establishing a subsidiary dedicated to nuclear power will help SaskPower meet Canada’s strict regulatory requirements,” said Dustin Duncan, Minister Responsible for SaskPower, in a press release. “The work done at SaskNuclear in the coming years will help support a final investment decision on whether to proceed with SMRs in 2029.”
The subsidiary will be wholly owned by SaskPower and will share a President and CEO, as well as a Board of Directors.
The current president and CEO of SaskPower is Rupen Pandya. He said,
“A key part of our planning and development work is to evaluate various business models that would advance our project as effectively as possible.”
Pandya added, “Establishing a nuclear subsidiary is the best option for a greenfield jurisdiction, like Saskatchewan.”
Nuclear power is federally regulated by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and has standards and regulations that are unique to the nuclear industry that differ from SaskPower’s other generation sources. SaskPower will need to build a nuclear information management system and establish a strong nuclear safety culture to become a licensed nuclear operator, SaskPower said.
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