Why Canada could become the next nuclear energy 'superpower'

[GON]

I wonder if @OVERKILL was the ghost author of this article.

Canada is a awesome case study of a nation with a small population, that is loaded with natural resources to include water, yet seems to have lost its ways in certain things. One could argue Canada could be the richest country in the world per capita.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yjnkgz0djo

 

[Owen Lucas]

Cheap power and cold temperatures could be great for an AI computing facility.

 

[mk378]

Mining of anything tends to be boom and bust.

Also, exporting your natural resoruces in raw form is short-sighted. Real national wealth comes from adding value to them. Canada like most of the top uranium producing countries doesn't have enrichment facilities.

 

[wwillson]

Canada like most of the top uranium producing countries doesn't have enrichment facilities.

They don't need enrichment facilities with CANDU. @OVERKILL knows a ton about this.

 

[OVERKILL]

Mining of anything tends to be boom and bust.

Also, exporting your natural resoruces in raw form is short-sighted. Real national wealth comes from adding value to them. Canada like most of the top uranium producing countries doesn't have enrichment facilities.

Mining of uranium for Canada provides energy security. We've never had enrichment, as we never had a weapons program (though we helped with yours) and historically we've never needed it. CANDU reactors were developed around the lack of enrichment and don't require it. There was some interest in getting (export) enrichment capacity but the US wasn't keen on the idea at the time and the economics really aren't that great, which is why Russia dominates this space, you don't get rich doing enrichment.

Also, probably important to note is that we don't generally export freshly mined uranium but UF6 (uranium hexafluoride). Cameco, which is the world's largest uranium mining and processing company, does mining, refining, processing and fabrication all here in Canada. They also produce CANDU fuel bundles in Port Hope as well as shipping processed UF6 south to the US. They also currently own half of Westinghouse, the other half is owned by another Canadian company, Brookfield.

 

[RAVL]

Canada’s biggest obstacle is the donkey man child PM. How this guy has been elected multiple times is inconceivable to me. They need competent leadership. Great country otherwise, great people, gorgeous scenery. Nuclear is part of the future mix, no question. Blessed to have them as a neighbor.

 

[Just a civilian pilot]

Canada’s biggest obstacle is the donkey man child PM. How this guy has been elected multiple times is inconceivable to me. They need competent leadership. Great country otherwise, great people, gorgeous scenery. Nuclear is part of the future mix, no question. Blessed to have them as a neighbor.

Bingo.

Canada is also extremely blessed to have the U.S as our neighbor.

 

[KrisZ]

One can only hope. If it continues to be run by lunatics, nuclear may be destroyed much, much quicker than it took to build up.
But then again, we have private tech giants that are now super interested in cheap energy, and Canadian dollar is not exactly strong right now. They may just invest over there.

 

[bbhero]

One can only hope. If it continues to be run by lunatics, nuclear may be destroyed much, much quicker than it took to build up.
But then again, we have private tech giants that are now super interested in cheap energy, and Canadian dollar is not exactly strong right now. They may just invest over there.

Exactly ^^^^^^

These mental midgets do not seem to comprehend that extremely high energy density is the most assured way to produce and provide enough energy to do what they want it do.

 

[oil pan 4]

Mining of anything tends to be boom and bust.

Also, exporting your natural resoruces in raw form is short-sighted. Real national wealth comes from adding value to them. Canada like most of the top uranium producing countries doesn't have enrichment facilities.

Mixed oxide fuel. You don't need enrichment when your neighbor has more spent fuel than they know what to do with.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Mining of anything tends to be boom and bust.

Also, exporting your natural resoruces in raw form is short-sighted. Real national wealth comes from adding value to them. Canada like most of the top uranium producing countries doesn't have enrichment facilities.

Mining does tend to be boom / bust, but value added depends a lot on the what the value added is and your labor structure / cost.

In the case of uranium I would say yes.

In the case of the Southeast USA, which is still the largest grower of cotton (requires certain weather and lots of water), better to ship the spun cotton to low labor cost countries to make clothing, while we use our limited labor pool to make things like BMW's.

 

[zzyzzx]

Obligatory Ice Road Truckers TV show reference.