A former CEO of Arc Clean Energy Canada says it’s time for NB Power to look at options for small modular nuclear reactors other than two companies seeking to build them in New Brunswick.
Norm Sawyer said the evidence of problems at ARC, including the departure of the last CEO, is “a little confusing. It doesn’t seem to be consistent with what they’re doing.”
But that suggests NB Power should consider looking at other ways to add more nuclear power to the province’s grid by 2030 or 2035, he told CBC News.
“I would say, yes, I think it may be time to do that if 2030 is indeed crucial,” he said.
“NB Power needs to think strategically about this and say, ‘If I need power at this time, what are the chances that nuclear will be ready?’ Of course, some technologies will be available much faster than others.”
Sawyer left ARC in 2021 and is now an independent consultant to the nuclear industry.
Bill Labbe has left ARC Clean Energy Canada. ARC says Labbe will not be replaced as CEO, but that the U.S. company’s chief operating officer will lead the company “during the next period.” (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
He was responding to the news that his successor as CEO, Bill Labbe, has left the company.
ARC is “realigning personnel and resources to strengthen our strategic partnerships and streamline operations to best prepare for the next phase of our launch,” the company said in a statement this week.
Last year, Labbe told a legislative committee that ARC’s 100-megawatt small modular nuclear reactor would be ready by 2030.
But at Energy and Utilities Committee hearings this week, Brad Coady, the state-owned company’s vice president of business development and strategic partnerships, said SMRs “probably won’t be ready by 2030.”
REGARD | “They are endangering the network”: Ex-SMR CEO on impending deadlines:
The Higgs government gave ARC $20 million in 2021 to support the development of its reactor, and the previous Liberal government gave it $10 million.
Spokeswoman Laverne Stewart said the government was not informed in advance of Labbe’s departure.
Provincial funding is “contingent on the achievement of several targets,” Stewart said.
“We recognize that technology is still evolving and understand that restructuring is part of that process.”
The province has identified ARC and Moltex Energy, another Saint John company, as key to transitioning to fossil-free electricity generation by 2035, the deadline set in the federal government’s climate action plan.
The Belledune power plant of NB Power. (NB Power)
The government and NB Power are also working hard to find replacement power for the Belledune power plant, which must stop burning coal by 2030.
Politicians boasted about the job creation and economic benefits of building reactors by two New Brunswick-based SMR developers.
But Sawyer says the top priority should be to install more power plants, and it might make sense to look at companies that are more advanced and able to build more plants faster.
“If the supply chain and the fleet are in place, you are much better off,” he said.
“It’s a trade-off between economic growth and energy security, and I guess at the end of the day you just have to decide to move on.”
Otherwise, he said, “the electricity supply and the price of electricity will be at risk.”
In 2022, Liberal MP René Legacy of Bathurst West-Beresford suggested the utility look at SMR models from outside New Brunswick to help meet emissions deadlines. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Allison Macfarlane, former chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and a professor at the University of British Columbia, said the small light-water reactors being developed for the Darlington nuclear power plant in Ontario are “closer to maturity.”
“Those are the ones that will probably be built first,” she said.
Sawyer’s comments echo Liberal MP René Legacy’s 2022 statement when he suggested the utility look at SMR models outside New Brunswick to meet emissions deadlines.
“Of course we want to do New Brunswick first, but if there are other opportunities out there, we will explore them,” Legacy said Wednesday.
“As much as we want to build this industry, there will soon be a real energy crisis. It’s coming at us very quickly.”
NB Power said in a statement on Wednesday that the company is “in a period of disruptive change that requires it to explore all options” to meet rising electricity demand. However, it did not say whether those options include other SMR developers.
Seven First Nations communities that are part of the North Shore Mi’kmaq Tribal Council are investing in ARC’s SMR development.
And the Port of Belledune said it will use an ARC reactor to power a planned hydrogen power export facility as part of its green energy center project in 2022.
ARC said in its statement that Labbe would not be replaced as CEO, but that the chief operating officer of ARC’s U.S. subsidiary, Bob Braun, would lead the company “for the foreseeable future.”
When asked whether anyone else was leaving the company, ARC did not respond.
The company said it recently completed the second phase of a supplier design review required as part of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission’s regulatory process, another reason Sawyer questions the timing of ARC’s plan to “streamline operations.”
“You would think that if you plan ahead, you would at least maintain what you have, or, if there is a project, you would grow,” Sawyer said.
Potential investors may be hesitant because the company needs to find an alternative source of enriched uranium since Russia, which it had relied on, is under economic sanctions because of its war against Ukraine, he said.
Sawyer repeatedly stressed that his comments were based on his expertise and experience in the nuclear sector as an independent consultant and not on inside information about what was going on at ARC. He added that he does not advise ARC.
For New Brunswick to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, an additional form of nuclear power generation is critical, Sawyer said.
“Just because a project may run into rough waters doesn’t mean that nuclear power is inherently bad.”
