Global First power one step closer to creating Canada’s first small modular reactor

In a press release, GFP said that this is the result of four years of engagement with the CNSC in its vendor design review process, which ensures that proposed nuclear projects achieve the necessary advancement in design and safety to be considered for full licensing. If things continue to move ahead, the firm expects first power in 2026. 

Global First Power’s 15 megawatt thermal MMR plant will be developed at Chalk River Laboratories, a site owned by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and managed by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. The system includes a nuclear plant, which would contain an MMR high temperature gas-cooled reactor based on USNC’s Fully Ceramic Microencapsulated fuel technology and which would provide process heat to an adjacent plant, via a molten salt heat exchange system. 

“This demonstration project is intended to serve as a model for future SMR deployments as called for in Canada’s SMR Roadmap and Action Plan, by producing competitively-priced clean energy for remote communities and heavy industry such as mining and resource projects,” management said in the statement.

GFP is jointly owned by Ontario Power Generation and USNC-Power Ltd.