I would very much like to see Alberta deploy some nuclear power plants. Specifically I'd like to see a Molten Salt Reactor built in Calgary.
Alberta is a province which pays "equalization payments" to the rest of Canada (the funding of federal programs based on income) at a higher per-capita rate than any other province. That we can do this today is thanks to our hydrocarbon industry.
7% of jobs in Alberta are supplied by the energy sector. But pressure from environmental organizations is at odds with Alberta's hydrocarbon industry.
Some pressure is for carbon taxes. Some pressure is to block pipeline construction.
This pits us-against-them and is not good for Canada. I personally support carbon taxes, yet also generally favor pipelines as the safest and cheapest means of transporting hydrocarbons. But both are at least debatable... I'm sure there are bad carbon taxes and bad pipelines: the devil is in the details. I do not trust mainstream environmental organizations to evaluate those details.
Having repeatedly brought up topic of Nuclear Power to Green leadership and Elizabeth May, I've seen how quickly anti-nukes are consulted to explain it is all very uneconomic and dangerous... nuclear, like pipelines, is a topic for fundraising and not for serious discussion.
And so, as someone extremely worried about both the long-term economic vitality of Calgary and Alberta... and also extremely worried about climate change... I see Advanced Nuclear as an obvious way to stop the us-vs-them politics.
Unlike CANDU and existing PWR, the high-temperature operation of MSR would allow us to pursue petrochemical diversification while lowering GHG emissions.
I don't think Alberta's first MSR need have any petrochemical application. Whether it supplies clean electricity or provides process heat, it simply needs to exist. Simply building an MSR in Alberta will force us to learn about the tech and the full range of possibilities it offers.
This could also apply in the other direction: built it for process heat and quickly the question becomes: Why not build more to decarbonize our grid? (Alberta has amazing transmission-line infrastructure!)
Basically any MSR in Alberta, for whatever reason, forces us to recognize all the use-cases. Forces us to ask: why we're burning our natural resources instead of exporting them, if not conserving them?
Of course, most people in Calgary and Alberta are unaware what a Molten Salt Reactor is. What Advanced Nuclear can mean. Nuclear is not on-the-table, and the discussion is entirely around pipelines. (Us-vs-them.)
I'm putting this video out there to ensure the topic of nuclear power in Alberta isn't solely covered by anti-nuclear organizations. As will happen, if we don't get out in front of it.
In 2014 I helped Ben Heard put the nuclear argument forward for Australia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzbI0UPwQHg
...and watching the conversation unfold in Australia seems like what will eventually happen in Alberta... nuclear will become a topic. And anti-nuclear organizations will attempt to dominate the conversation with untrue assertions.
When I lamented to Ben only 12,000 people ever bothered to watch that video... he assured me that the right people watched it.
Hopefully this "Nuclear: Calgary, Alberta" video can play a similar role.
People in Calgary are open minded about nuclear.
Generation Atomic
Eric Meyer of Generation Atomic traveled to Calgary for Energy Disruptors.
As did Simon Irish of Terrestrial Energy.
And Caroline Cochran of Oklo Inc.
And Dr. Rita Baranwal - Director of GAIN.
The event was not nearly as nuclear-focused as I'd have liked, but it did results in hours of video capture and IMHO quite useful material. Particularly to help put forward a pro-nuclear argument to Calgary.
While I don't think this video quite "nails it", more footage of past Calgary nuclear events does exist. Calgary hosted Dr. David LeBlanc in 2012 and Kirk Sorensen in 2011, to explain the concept of Molten Salt Reactors.
If I had tons of time I'd make many more videos about Nuclear Calgary and Nuclear Alberta. (I don't. I won't.)