The U.S. and Canada Nuclear Advances in Thorium Reactors

The United States and Canada have much to collaborate on in the nuclear energy field, and they seem to be doing well. The two countries are considering each other's reactor designs, and each has funded or selected to review some of them. 

FREMONT, CA: The United States and Canada have much to collaborate on in nuclear energy, and they appear to be succeeding. Each country has funded or chosen to review some of the reactor designs of the other.

Ontario Power Generation (OPG) recently selected the U.S.-based GE Hitachi BWRX-300 small modular reactor (SMR) for their Darlington nuclear site as Canada's first commercial, grid-scale SMR.

For instance, The University of Illinois has partnered with the Chalk River site in Canada to demonstrate Ultra Safe Nuclear's MMR, a Generation IV SMR.

Many industrial applications today rely almost exclusively on fossil fuels for thermal energy—the industrial sector is responsible for a staggering 30 percent of emissions and has resisted efforts to become net zero.

Hydro and nuclear power have helped make Canada's electricity system one of the cleanest in the world, according to a policy review by the International Energy Agency.

In 2030, Canada intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40-45 percent and reach net zero emissions by 2050. Canada has made many innovative international and domestic energy system transformation commitments since the last IEA review in 2015. Currently, 83 percent of Canada's electricity system is emission-free, thanks to the "dominance" of hydropower and the "important role" of nuclear power.

IEA recommends that Canada encourage international collaboration, particularly in the global licensing of innovative SMR technologies and using CANDU reactors. This final point is crucial to Canada's and other nations' nuclear energy futures, as the CANDU is Canada's flagship design and is a National Treasure. Its use should expand globally along with numerous other designs.

There are 48 CANDU reactors and other pressurized heavy water reactors in operation around the world that have a total generating capacity of 24 million kilowatts, according to the World Nuclear Association. Nineteen CANDU PHWRs generate 15 percent of the nation's electricity with a capacity of nearly 14 million kilowatts.

However, a new fuel developed by Clean Core Thorium Energy in the United States can increase this power and produce significantly less waste. ANEEL fuel combines thorium with high-assay, low-enriched uranium (HALEU).

CANDU and other heavy water pressurized reactors (PHWRs) are ideal applications for ANEEL. The ANEEL system can reduce waste emissions from CANDUs/PHWRs by over 80 percent, reducing waste management, operation costs, fuel costs, safety concerns, and nonproliferation benefits.

The Nuclear Engineering and Science Center of Texas A&M University successfully manufactured ANEEL fuel pellets under the quality requirements and supervision of the Idaho National Laboratory of The Department of Energy tests and qualified the fuel by irradiation. ANEEL fuel is also essential because it creates an early demand for HALEU, a material required for many new reactor designs, particularly SMRs and fast reactors. This is one reason why nuclear fuel supplier Centrus Energy Corporation intends to become the first commercial American supplier of HALEU and could also supply HALEU to Canada.

This is yet another successful collaboration between Canada and the United States. This American fuel is ideal for the Canadian CANDU and PHWR reactors. Using thorium in any reactor will also facilitate the development of SMRs that will utilize thorium fuels in the future.