- $90.4 billion (2023 dollars) boost to Canadian GDP over the life of the 4 -unit project
Montreal: June 21, 2024 – AtkinsRéalis, a fully integrated professional services and project management company with offices around the world, released a comprehensive, independent report today conducted by the Conference Board of Canada (CBofC), which shows that the construction of a 4-unit CANDU MONARK nuclear power station would have a positive economic impact to Canada and create thousands of jobs.
“We have a world-class, made-in-Canada solution in CANDU nuclear technology that will allow us to navigate the energy transition successfully and accrue many economic advantages for Canada,” said Joe St. Julian, President, Nuclear, AtkinsRéalis.
This is clearly a major green infrastructure imperative and a huge opportunity for Ontario to not only cement its future energy security but also generate significant economic benefits through high-paying unionized and non-unionized jobs, a local supply chain and the deployment of homegrown intellectual property and technology.
The study found that the manufacturing, engineering, and construction phase of four CANDU MONARK units would generate more than $40.9 billion of GDP impact for Canada and equivalent to over 20,000 full time, well-paying jobs and over 324,000 person-years of employment, as well as an additional $49.5 billion of GDP impact during the operation phase. The power plant will sustain 3,500 full – time equivalent jobs per year over its 70 -plus year operating life.
Due to the well-established Canadian supply chain for CANDU reactors—the linchpin of the vibrant domestic nuclear ecosystem that already supports over 76,000 stable and well-remunerated jobs across a wide variety of professional and skilled trades fields, the Canadian nuclear Industry is perfectly suited to a new build of CANDU MONARK reactors.
Additional key findings include:
- $29.1 billion (2023 dollars) in additional tax revenue across municipal, provincial and federal governments over the life of the project.
- CANDU MONARK intellectual property is 100% Canadian owned – and the world class Canadian supply chain will benefit strongly from exporting the product, leading up to $4.8 billion of GDP impact for Canada and over 2,200 jobs for Canadians for each unit built overseas.
- A fleet of CANDU MONARK nuclear reactors built in Canada would further develop human capital by leveraging cutting-edge nuclear technology, as well as leadership training and partnerships with colleges and universities.
“As Ontario looks to ramp up capacity to meet the 18,000 MW of new nuclear power, large nuclear reactors like CANDU reactors will be key to addressing the forecasted demand. CANDU reactors will optimize the amount of energy provided from scarce grid-connected regions in Ontario, and if they are designed, built, supplied and serviced from within Canada, it is a win-win for all Canadians,” said Gary Rose, Executive Vice-President, Nuclear, Canada, AtkinsRéalis.
Download the full report here.
About AtkinsRéalis
Created by the integration of long-standing organizations dating back to 1911, AtkinsRéalis is a world-leading professional services and project management company dedicated to engineering a better future for our planet and its people. We create sustainable solutions that connect people, data and technology to transform the world’s infrastructure and energy systems. We deploy global capabilities locally to our clients and deliver unique end-to-end services across the whole life cycle of an asset including consulting, advisory & environmental services, intelligent networks & cybersecurity, design & engineering, procurement, project & construction management, operations & maintenance, decommissioning and capital. The breadth and depth of our capabilities are delivered to clients in strategic sectors such as Engineering Services, Nuclear and Capital. News and information are available at www.atkinsrealis.com or follow us on LinkedIn.
About AtkinsRéalis’ Nuclear Business
AtkinsRéalis has over 70 years of global nuclear expertise, delivering nuclear technology products and full-service solutions to nuclear utilities around the world. AtkinsRéalis is the steward of CANDU® nuclear technology, operating on four continents, and provides advisory and engineering services to other nuclear developers. With an innovative technology portfolio, including access to over 500 patented solutions, AtkinsRéalis solves technically complex challenges across the whole nuclear lifecycle from design and new build through asset management and from life extension and late life management through decommissioning and waste management. AtkinsRéalis operates and manages government nuclear research sites, transforming ageing infrastructure and safely managing legacy nuclear waste. AtkinsRéalis is also involved in developing medical radioisotopes for cancer research through its partnership with TerraPower. Learn more on our Nuclear market page.
BACKGROUND
About the CANDU MONARK: Partner for a Cost-Efficient, Energy Secure, and Net Zero Future
- Cost-Effective at Scale to Displace High Emissions Energy Sources: Building on the commercial success of the CANDU models currently in operation, and decades of design development since, the CANDU MONARK reactor offers an economically attractive, domestic full-scale product to utilities looking to deploy new nuclear power at scale. Featuring a larger output of 1,000 MW, improved cost per megawatt-hour, a longer operating life of 70+ years, sustainable design principles to minimize environmental impact, the latest in robotics, predictive maintenance and high integration with flexible electricity grids of the future; CANDU MONARK technology is designed to leverage the latest engineering techniques, including full interoperability with digital twin technology to reduce costs for construction, operation, and maintenance. It is the easiest reactor design to build, operate and maintain in AtkinsRéalis’ CANDU nuclear portfolio.
- Simplified Construction: The CANDU MONARK’s composition has been designed with maintenance in mind, while incorporating a module-based construction strategy that reduces the time to construct from previous generations of CANDU technology. When combined with the enhanced control afforded by digital delivery concepts, the CANDU MONARK will be constructed faster and with lower risk.
- Energy Security: The CANDU MONARK reactor leverages the existing strengths of the proven CANDU design, operating around the world with some of the highest fuel efficiencies and lifetime capacity factors among any reactor technology in the world. This includes using natural uranium as a fuel source (which can be produced domestically in the reactor’s host country), on-power refuelling, and online maintenance. Like other CANDU reactors, the fuel flexibility of CANDU MONARK technology also allows it to safely use other fuel sources with minimal adjustments; including recycled uranium, thorium and mixed oxide fuels. Existing CANDU units have already leveraged this capability, proving a natural uranium equivalent to be successful.
- Net Zero Integration: Producing decarbonized power without emissions, a pair of CANDU MONARK reactors would remove over 17 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions per year when displacing traditional coal. With its footprint and flexible siting requirements, CANDU MONARK reactors can also be situated on existing fossil fuel power plant sites, where transmission and distribution lines already exist, for easy integration into an energy grid.
- Cancer-Fighting Isotopes: The CANDU MONARK reactor will continue the ability of CANDU technology to produce medical grade life-saving isotopes to sterilize medical equipment worldwide, and for use in both fighting and researching cancer. Ontario’s CANDU reactors produce 50% of the world’s supply of the Cobalt-60 isotope.
- Hydrogen Production: Deployment of nuclear power will form just one aspect of a future diversified energy grid. As part of its future-thinking design, the CANDU MONARK reactor can integrate a hydrogen production plant and storage facility into a nuclear station it resides in, as well as use surplus heat from the plant to make hydrogen generation more efficient.
- Domestic Technology for Economic Growth: The supply chain for existing CANDU technology consists of over 250 companies and 76,000 employees. With this supply chain already growing, investments in building, operating, and maintaining CANDU MONARK reactors in Canada, as well as key export opportunities for them internationally, will not only sustain but increase job opportunities for well-paying, strategic roles in the Canadian economy. This includes engineers, scientists, manufacturers and constructors across Canada for generations to come.
- World Class Safety Standards: Like all CANDU reactors in operation, which have been upgraded to deploy the latest innovations in safety technology, CANDU MONARK reactors have comprehensive “defence in depth” systems to de-risk even the most unlikely scenarios. It contains two independent, equally effective systems that can shut down the reactor. Both systems work without power, and without the need for operator intervention.
In addition to the new features, CANDU MONARK retains many features of CANDU technology that are unique among large reactor designs globally. These include:
- The ability to use natural uranium as fuel, providing a vast majority of countries with unparalleled energy security.
- The capability to produce life-saving medical isotopes to diagnose and treat health conditions.
- The capacity to be refuelled during operations, allowing it to achieve higher capacity factors than other reactors.
- Safety technology to de-risk even the most unlikely scenarios. This includes upgrades that make it more operationally resilient to extreme climate events.
