SMRs: From Small Beginnings

You might have missed it, because there wasn’t any fanfare.  But this country’s small modular reactor industry now has an advocacy group of its own, dedicated to nurturing a flourishing small reactor industry in Canada.

The Emissions-Free Energy Working Group (EFEWG), like CNA, is a membership-supported industry organization.  Member companies join to create a common voice.  It was clear in recent years that regulators like CNSC, and other stakeholders, needed to have a point of dialog with the industry on SMRs – a point of dialog that no one SMR designer/vendor could provide very well by itself.  EFEWG Executive Director Roger Humphries has led the conception and creation of EFEWG, which now has by-laws and paid members.EFEWG has already been involved in at least one valuable regulatory research project:  INPRO’s “Case Study for Deployment of a Factory Fuelled SMR.”  The Canadian team (EFEWG, CNA and CNSC) elaborated a case study of the regulatory problems posed by deployment of a land-based SMR across international boundaries.

CNA is proud to have helped in the creation of EFEWG.  We will continue to give Roger and his team our support in realizing their vision of a flourishing Canadian small reactor industry.