Canada is following the US in promoting a new generation of nuclear reactors in Europe.
The Canadian province of Ontario signed a deal with Belgium yesterday in Paris to explore the new technology of small modular reactors (SMRs) in the European Union country.
“By co-operating with a global reference we strengthen our sector’s credibility and our ability to develop next-generation nuclear technologies,” said Belgian energy minister Mathieu Bihet.
In October, Ottawa announced a C$3 billion (€1.85 billion) federal-provincial package to advance Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington New Nuclear Project. That is a programme that aims to put the first of four SMRs into operation in 2029, which the Canadian Government says would make the country the first G7 nation to launch an SMR at “grid scale”.
Grid scale means a power plant designed to generate electricity at a magnitude suitable for feeding directly into the national or regional electrical grid.
The US has been pushing the same idea for several years. In 2020, Washington’s International Trade Association set up a “Small Modular Reactor Public-Private Programme” and an SMR Working Group through its Department of Commerce to help co-ordinate technical and regulatory work and to promote US reactor exports under “the highest standards of safety”.
SMRs are compact reactors designed to be built in modules, largely manufactured in factories and then assembled on site. They are meant to be faster and cheaper to build than the huge nuclear stations that often overrun budgets and schedules.
According to the US Government, each SMR can produce up to 300 megawatts of electricity — enough to power a medium-sized city — and could also supply heat for industrial use or hydrogen production.
Currently, only two small modular reactors are operable worldwide: One in China and one in Russia.
More are under construction in those countries, as well as in the US and Argentina. Several European countries, Canada, Japan, and Indonesia have already made preliminary investments, according to the World Nuclear Association in October.
Swedish energy firm Vattenfall describes SMRs as an effort to fix the industry’s cost and time problems rather than a radical new technology. Most designs, it says, rely on proven reactor systems used in existing plants, only “rolled out modularly, in series”.
Marcus Eriksson, senior adviser at Vattenfall, calls them the nuclear sector’s answer to big projects in Europe and the US that “failed on time and cost”, although he adds that SMRs are “not always the best choice” depending on the site and market.
The deal signed by Ontario Power Generation (OPG) and the Belgian Nuclear Forum is meant to analyse how new reactors could be realised in Belgium “by 2035”.
OPG will share its experience in technology, development and operations, while the Forum will focus on stakeholder engagement and building public acceptance.
Vattenfall says modular construction allows parts to be prefabricated and shipped, simplifying logistics. The concept emerged in the 2010s after several large nuclear projects — in Finland, France and the US — faced major delays and cost overruns.
Belgium, which had long banned new nuclear builds, lifted that restriction in May. The new partnership is the first concrete sign of a possible restart for the country’s nuclear industry, with which it hopes to join other European states — the Czech Republic, the UK, Poland, Estonia and Sweden — already investing in SMR design.
The US is also courting some of those same countries. In Poland, for instance, the State-owned utility PEJ plans to start building a nuclear plant with three Westinghouse reactors in 2026.
Polish manufacturers FAMAK and Mostostal Kraków are already obtaining certification for American standards of safety in nuclear energy (ASME) so they can join the US supply chain.
At the Paris exhibition, Belgian equipment suppliers said US nuclear norms — the ASME rules used for component certification — are not as strict as European ones.
One manufacturer gave a practical example: “EU norms are stricter, for example for pipe connections — we have to use two different types, and the Americans don’t even make the distinction.
“If Poland decides to base its plants on US norms, they can — and then they buy American. We’d rather Europeans buy European,” he said.
Others added that these choices rarely come down to cost or safety alone: “It’s political. Finland used Russian norms, now[French electricity giant] EDF’s. The Czech Republic could go Korean. In the end it’s a mix of price, deadlines and strategic trade interests.”
In parallel, Brussels and the US continue talks over energy co-operation.
In late September, Ditte Jørgensen, the European Commission’s Director-General for Energy, travelled to Washington to discuss the energy chapter of a broader trade agreement worth $750 billion.
On the nuclear front she met several US industrial leaders, including from Westinghouse Electric Company.
The trip came as the European Union and US are negotiating US LNG export to the bloc as part of replacing Russian energy and as a condition for the August EU-US trade deal.
