Grant Isaac
President & Chief Operating Officer, Cameco
From smart devices to industrial electrification, energy demand is soaring, and Cameco’s design-ready AP1000 reactor offers Canada a proven nuclear solution.
Quick Google searches providing AI results. Coffee makers requiring a Wi-Fi connection. Phones, tablets, watches, rings, trackers lined up and plugged in.
As basic appliances become smarter and multiple personal devices become the norm, every household is requiring more energy to power everyday life. Add in industries moving to increased electrification, advancing technologies requiring more power, and a push for greater decarbonization of electrical grids. The outcome is inevitable – more clean energy is needed, as soon as possible.
In Ontario, the provincial energy plan forecasts demand for electricity to increase by 75 per cent over the next 25 years. New energy infrastructure is required, and proven, affordable carbon-free nuclear power generation is part of the solution.
A nuclear opportunity
New nuclear projects are being explored by Ontario’s two power utilities. OPG is considering deploying 10 gigawatts of new nuclear at its Wesleyville site while Bruce Power is looking at adding up to 4,800 megawatts of additional capacity. Outside Ontario, Saskatchewan and Alberta are also planning to introduce nuclear power.
This provides a unique opportunity for Cameco, a nuclear energy company headquartered in Saskatoon with critical uranium assets in Saskatchewan, vital fuel manufacturing operations in Ontario and best-in-class reactor technologies, including the Canadian-owned AP1000 nuclear reactor.
With energy demand growing rapidly, the need to begin building new infrastructure is pressing. The AP1000 reactor is the only Canadian-owned technology ready to build now.
“There are six operating around the world and there are another 14 under construction, which means we’re through the first of a kind. We know how to build them,” said Cameco President and Chief Operating Officer Grant Isaac. “It’s a design-ready, fuel-ready, license-ready, regulatory-ready reactor. It’s owned by Canadians and I can’t think of a better nation-building project than building AP1000s in Canada.”
Growing Canada’s supply chain
Canada has 17 reactors in operation in Canada — 16 in Ontario and one in New Brunswick — all of which are heavy water reactors. However, 92 per cent of the global nuclear reactor fleet is light water reactors. This provides an opportunity to diversify Canada’s nuclear supply chain to support another reactor technology, creating more jobs in Canada and more export opportunities for Canadian businesses. And the opportunities extend throughout the nuclear fuel cycle from uranium mining, fuel manufacturing, engineering services and reactor technologies.
“You think about all the ways that Ontario and Saskatchewan can plug into that very long-term, century-long supply chain. These are reactors that need to be fueled. That fuel starts with uranium,” said Isaac.
“We’re talking decades and decades of high-margin, high-value jobs and economic opportunities and prosperity here in Canada. It is a compelling economic security and energy security case.”
Visit ap1000.cameco.com to learn more.
