{"id":27621,"date":"2011-08-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-31T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ashleydev.com\/2011\/08\/31\/size-matters-small-nuclear-reactors-and-albertas-oil-sands-development\/"},"modified":"2020-08-27T11:45:03","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T15:45:03","slug":"size-matters-small-nuclear-reactors-and-albertas-oil-sands-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cna.ca\/fr\/2011\/08\/31\/size-matters-small-nuclear-reactors-and-albertas-oil-sands-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Size Matters: Small Nuclear Reactors and Alberta\u2019s Oil Sands Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

Earlier today, Denise Carpenter, President and CEO of the Canadian Nuclear Association, gave a presentation at the Oil Sands Infrastructure Summit in Calgary. The presentation focused on developing and maintaining a sustainable oil sands infrastructure, and on the role nuclear technology can play in achieving that objective.<\/p>\n

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President & CEO of the CNA – Denise Carpenter<\/p><\/div>\n

The Canadian Nuclear Association represents all nuclear technologies in Canada.\u00a0 The tens of thousands of Canadians whose jobs are connected to those technologies work in nuclear power generation, nuclear medicine, pharmaceuticals, food safety, materials science, engineering, science and technology services, and many other areas.<\/p>\n

We believe that small modular reactor technology represents a unique and discrete change in the possibilities for applying nuclear energy in the oil sands.<\/p>\n

SMR technology creates an opportunity for Alberta to show the world that you have the courage and commitment to live up to your vision.<\/p>\n

Small Modular Reactors: How Small Is Small?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The acronym SMRs originally referred to Small and Medium Reactors, where \u201csmall\u201d was defined to be less than 300 megawatts of electricity and \u201cmedium\u201d reactors to be between 300 and 700 megawatts. The SMRs of interest in the oil sands typically fall into the \u201cvery small\u201d range.<\/p>\n

Why Small Nuclear for the Oil Sands?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

At this point you may wonder why I think nuclear is a good fit for the oil sands. After all, haven\u2019t there been a number of studies that seem to suggest that it\u2019s not?\u00a0 Well, the problem with these studies is that they were looking at the wrong size reactors.<\/p>\n

Large reactors present a challenge for use in the oil sands. These include, among other things:<\/p>\n