Impacts in Nuclear Power Generation

Canada’s fleet of nuclear power plants avoided losses of hundreds of millions of dollars in energy production following research into causes and prevention of reactor leaks. Additionally, gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions were avoided, and the underlying issue was resolved for the long term. This enabled a multi-billion-dollar reactor export project to proceed with confidence, supporting thousands of jobs for Canadians. The value of these economic impacts from this one line of research conducted over about 10 years are of the same order of magnitude as the present value of all of Canada’s investments in neutron beam laboratories over 70 years, approximately $750 million.

The above impacts arose from the use of neutron stress-scanning to examine cracking in key components of nuclear power stations. Such cracking caused the 1997 and 2001 shutdowns of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station, which together cost over $50 million. The neutron results provided assurance to the regulator that the station could be restarted, thus avoiding further losses. Continuing neutron beam research over the next decade has aided Canada’s fleet of reactors to operate reliably since 2001. This reliability enabled Ontario to eliminate its coal plants, thereby eliminating “smog days” in Toronto since 2014. More detail about this successful research area is available here: https://neutrons.ca/feeders/.

Today, 15% of Canada’s electricity is generated by nuclear power. The federal and provincial governments are now investing in small-modular reactor demonstration projects ($1 billion) as well as in traditional reactors ($25 billion in refurbishment projects alone). These investments could result in a capital expansion of Canada’s nuclear fleet valued at over $100 billion.

Research with neutron beams continues to generate knowledge needed for innovations that ensure the safe, reliable, and economic operation of nuclear power plants by determining the fitness-for-service of critical reactor components. For example, one aim of such research is to extend reactor life between refurbishments from 40 to 60 years, thus producing over $10B in value.