Saskatchewan is going nuclear, with a new energy security strategy

SASKATOON –  Saskatchewan is going nuclear.

“Here in Saskatchewan, we are going to have power generation from nuclear power sources in Saskatchewan. That is a formal decision that this government has made,” said Minister of Crown Investments Corporation Jeremy Harrison, at a press conference beginning the inaugural Canadian Nuclear Association-West conference in Saskatoon.

Among the first to arrive at the announcement of the new “Saskatchewan First Energy Security Strategy and Supply Plan,” were coal miners.

That might seem a bit odd, given the announcement, held at uranium miner Cameco’s Saskatoon head office, was largely about the province’s commitment to build nuclear power generation.

The thing is, it’s going to take a while to get there. And some of it may be a long while. In the meantime, we need to keep the lights on.

The plan, announced by Harrison, includes references to “continue to examine the feasibility of two SMR units near Estevan” and “evaluate the feasibility of large reactors and/or advanced SMRs to meat industry demand for electricity and heat to identify if either can be economically deployed in Saskatchewan.”

Two small modular reactors (SMRs) would total 600 megawatts. But it would take 1,500 megawatts to replace Saskatchewan’s coal fleet. So the second part of that commitment will require a lot more time, for licensing, site selection, technology and vendor section and finally construction, commissioning and operation. In the meantime, coal is expected to keep on churning.

To that end, Harrison spoke of $900 million planned for the coal refurbishments over the next four years, with work having begun on Boundary Dam Unit 4, which was retired several years ago, but kept for a while in cold reserve, just in case (which happened several times). But late last year it was shut down for good. Now the 150 megawatt unit will be brought back to life.

The announcement included plans to finally connect Saskatchewan’s two electrical grid. Currently, the northern grid is isolated from the southern grid, with power flowing through Manitoba to get power to the north. The cost for that will be $700 million.

Harrison also spoke of interties to the province’s neighbours, and in particular the $615 million intertie to the Southwest Power Pool and North Dakota, under construction right now west of Estevan.

He also spoke of the importance of Indigenous participation in all of this. Sheldon Wuttunee of Saskatchewan First Nations Natural Resource Centre of Excellence Inc. spoke, as did Cameco CEO Tim Gitzel.

Pipeline Online will have much, much more detailed coverage as time permits.