The Question of Nuclear

Interesting to see the question of nuclear energy come up this week. While not a fit for Newfoundland and Labrador’s energy challenges, nuclear will likely be part of the solution in other jurisdictions. Newfoundland and Labrador’s needs are not baseload, but peak generation, requiring easily dispatchable generation with lower initial capital costs.

As climate change impacts weather patterns, particularly rain, hydro generation in the US and parts of Canada may become significantly less consistent as we have already seen in the past two years. In some regions, new non-emitting baseload generation will be required. For many of these regions solar and wind will be the right solutions. In others, the conditions will not be favourable for these technologies.

While a new concept to many Canadians, nuclear has been a part of the energy mix in Ontario and New Brunswick for decades. Public support varies greatly by province, but in general >60% of Canadians support the expansion of nuclear energy as a non-emitting generation option.

New technology called Small Nuclear Reactors (SMR) significantly lowers the capital cost of introducing nuclear to an electricity grid – yet development has been slow, and costs remain higher than most other generation options. However, by 2050 Ontario’s independent system operator (ISO) predicts nuclear to have a cost advantage over both hydro and natural gas generation. Given that, Ontario is currently moving forward with the development of one SMR to power more than one million homes, and Atlantic Canada’s own Arc is advancing SMR technology.

The realities of the value chains of renewable energy, particularly rare metals, show us no energy comes without a cost. The transition and expansion of our electricity grids will require continued public dialogue and education as we collectively weigh the choices in front of us to decarbonize grids and power electrification.

Jon works with energy efficiency organizations, utilities and energy producers to help them better understand their customers and how to communicate with them.

Jon believes communication is an essential part of building social license and public support for policy and projects that move us forward. Beyond the energy industry, Jon has supported pro-social behaviour change in the areas health, violence prevention, waste, inclusion, and finance.

His work is informed by course work in behavioural economics with the University of Virginia, University of Toronto and Ogilvy. He is currently an MBA candidate with Queen Mary, University of London, UK.?