Vanguard Magazine

INTERVIEW BY VANGUARD TEAM vast underneath the Arctic ice cap, and nations are looking at it from a national security and an energy security perspec- tive to be able to potentially tap those resources. The melting of the Arctic ice cap and the receding of the Arctic ice, especially in the summer months, will give rise to increased trade, shorter trade routes from the Pacific to the Atlantic, and that will be a huge driver to increase trade routes in the north. As a result, you need to have some sort of infrastructure. In addition, to maintaining a viable trade route, its ports, its ability to have navigation, whether you have air-sea rescue type things. Those are all areas which I think are important as cli- mate change impacts the Arctic. This will open up the Arctic and remote communities more to potential industrial or economic empowerment for the peo- ples living in the Northern latitudes. Q So, what do you see as the major challenge to be able to adopt nuclear technology in the north? I don't think it's a technical challenge. I think technology is well-understood. I think the biggest challenge is to have folks understand why it is a viable power source. There is a long history of folks not AN INTERVIEW WITH JOSEPH McBREARTY, PRESIDENT AND CEO, CANADIAN NUCLEAR LABORATORIES indigenous engagement with respect to communities' energy ambitions and expanding trade routes in the north due to climate change. There is a need, and maybe you can give us a little bit of background around SMRs. SMRs are very similar to the nuclear reac- tor technology that exists today. Just as a basic overview, your uranium is mined, it's processed, it's put in fuel pellets and undergoes a process called fission. That produces heat, and then that heat is gen- erally used to turn water to steam and then to drive a turbine for electricity. That's the basic concept of nuclear reac- tors themselves. Small modular reactors are basically that, just small. These types of reactors have existed already for about 70 years. This technology is not brand-new tech- nology. Most of it is adapted from previous technologies. The principal SMR technol- ogies that we look at for these small mod- ular reactors are either pressurized water reactors, boiling water reactors, high-tem- perature gas reactors or even there's some thought of using molten salt reactors. The technology really is something. It's a heat source to generally produce steam or to produce a hot gas at the end of the day which will produce power either through electricity from a turbine or through dis- trict heating or process heat for a city, a town or, in the case of the Arctic, a pos- sible remote outpost. Q Climate change is having a much bigger impact in the north than people realize. What needs to be done to prepare for the changing landscape, both physically and geopolitically? That's a really good question. It's a com- plex. But at the end of the day, the north is going to open up, and I think there's numerous studies that show the Arctic re- gion is probably heating up two to three times faster than the rest of the planet. As the northwest passage opens up countries become very interested in the access to natural resources that are believed to be 28 JUNE/JULY 2022 www.vanguardcanada.com Innovation AS A DRIVER OF ENERGY INDEPENDENCE AND ARCTIC SOVEREIGNTY I n a tumultuous world with rising global temperatures and rapidly changing geopolitical factors, the question of clean energy and how to ensure its stable supply is one that is universal. For Canada, Arctic sov- ereignty is also a matter of primary con- cern. Joseph McBrearty, president, and CEO with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) recently sat down to speak with the Vanguard team about his thoughts on developing the Arctic using small modu- lar reactors (SMRs). CNL is Canada's premier nuclear science and technology organization, actively engaged in helping to solve some of the world's biggest prob- lems by developing nuclear technology for peaceful and innovative applications. With their unique expertise, they are restoring and protecting the environment, advanc- ing clean energy technology, and making medical breakthroughs. Q Let's delve right into talking about the potential for SMRs for northern and remote applications, sovereignty in Canada's Arctic regions, Air Force F-16s, Royal Canadian Air Force CF-18, and U.S. Air Force F-22 join up with a U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress in the vicinity of the Beaufort Sea during North American Aerospace Defense Command's Arctic air defense exercise, Amalgam Dart 21-2, March 24, 2021. Photo: CANR NORAD

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