Canada is launching a new nuclear strategy and spending $40 million to examine whether isolated, northern military bases and operations should run on microreactors.
Microreactors are factory-built, transportable nuclear reactors.
Small-scale nuclear energy has been promoted as one solution to the cost and pollution associated with burning diesel to power some northern communities. Experts, however, have said the setup costs would be prohibitive.
Military use of microreactors is a slightly different matter. The United States, for example, has started work to adopt microreactors at some airbases.
In a news release on Wednesday, Ottawa provided limited information about its program but said it would spend the 2026-27 financial year assessing “the potential of a Canadian‑controlled microreactor that could provide heat and electricity to remote and northern DND and Canadian Armed Forces facilities and operations.”
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The $40 million assigned to the project was framed as an “initial investment.” What, exactly, the money will fund was not stated.
That work comes as the country prepares to adopt a nuclear strategy that federal energy minister Tim Hodgson said would be “transformative.”
The strategy’s development was announced at the Canadian Nuclear Association Conference in Ottawa. The final document is expected by the end of the calendar year.
“Working in partnership with provinces and territories, utilities, industry, Indigenous partners and labour, a targeted nuclear energy agenda will help Canada expand our grid, electrify our economy, create thousands of jobs, unlock trade diversification opportunities and secure our energy supplies at home,” the federal government stated.
Federal defence minister David McGuinty, in a statement, said Canada “must strengthen its domestic capabilities to defend our interests, secure our sovereignty and shape our future.”
“This feasibility program is an important step in supporting Canadian-controlled nuclear energy technology and enabling a sustained defence presence in the Arctic and the North,” McGuinty was quoted as saying.
