Saskatchewan Unveils New Nuclear-Power Driven Energy Plan

An open-pit uranium mine in McClean Lake, Saskatchewan, in this file photo. David Boily/AFP via Getty Images

Saskatchewan’s government has released a new energy plan built around tapping the province’s significant uranium resources.

The Saskatchewan Energy Security Strategy and Supply Plan was announced Oct. 21 by the Saskatchewan Party government, and focuses on developing small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) that use the province’s uranium deposits to provide energy security and grow exports. The Opposition provincial NDP says it will release its own alternative energy plan later this year.

“The Government of Saskatchewan is committed to a nuclear future utilizing our amazing Saskatchewan uranium resource to power our province and provide a secure energy future,” said Crown Investments Corporation Minister Jeremy Harrison in an Oct. 21 statement.

The province’s energy strategy will grow exports and build more cross-border and interprovincial trade, and includes the ongoing development of an SMR together with GE-Hitachi and plans to build bigger reactors and different types of SMRs to grow the energy sector.

SaskPower is aiming for a carbon-neutral electricity grid by 2050, with the plan calling for growing U.S. intertie capacity from 150 megawatts to 650 megawatts by 2027. Interties are power lines that connect two electrical grids, meaning Saskatchewan plans to build new substations and transmission lines as part of its planned energy buildout.

The plan says there will be a need for 2,500 to 3,500 skilled nuclear workers to implement its objectives, and the plan also calls on the federal government to fund 75 percent of the cost for the first SMR.

Tim Gitzel, CEO of Saskatoon-based uranium producer Cameco, said the focus on nuclear energy is a sustainable plan for the future.

“Jurisdictions around the world are turning to nuclear power to address the pressing issues of energy security, national security and climate security,” he said. “Nuclear energy—fueled by Saskatchewan uranium—can provide reliable, carbon-free baseload power to help meet increasing electricity demands into the future.”

Harrison added that part of the plan will also hinge on funding Saskatchewan’s existing SaskPower coal plants to keep them open until 2050 as the nuclear energy plan is phased in. The plan will also involve working with First Nations to build new electricity projects in the province and investigate natural gas and renewable energy projects.

On Oct. 20, Saskatchewan’s NDP announced its own “Grid and Growth Plan,” which it says will be detailed later this year. The NDP release criticizes the government’s plan to keep spending on coal plants, saying there’s “zero evidence that it can be undertaken effectively and with good value for taxpayers in mind.”

“There is so much potential in every corner of this province to grow the economy and create good jobs in power generation and in the nuclear sector,” said Aleana Young, who serves as the Saskatchewan NDP’s shadow minister for jobs, the economy, and SaskPower.