Canadian Power - SMRs: Canada Places A Bet That Its Future Could Be Nuclear

In 2020, efforts continued to carve out a place in Canada's energy sector for small modular reactors ("SMRs"). SMRs are an emissions-free, reliable and readily deployable distributed generation baseload technology that is lauded as a key piece of the puzzle to help achieve federal, provincial and territorial decarbonization targets, as well as address numerous energy challenges arising from Canada's geography, load requirements and international commitments. These efforts include the federal government's launch of the Small Modular Reactor Action Plan (the "Action Plan") in December 2020, as well as steps taken by certain provincial governments and industry players to promote and advance SMR technology in Canada. With a potential export market of $150 billion per year, the federal government is tantalized by the great economic opportunity that SMRs present. Unsurprisingly, Canada is not alone in its efforts to develop SMRs; the global race to bring the first