by Walt Robbins

Created on: October 21, 2009   Last Updated: October 23, 2009

Back in the late 1950's, ideas for the use of small nuclear reactors for various purposes were in vogue. During that period, when I worked for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, I heard speculation over the possible use of atomic energy to run our autos, heat our houses, lift our rockets to the heavens. Many of these ideas were so wild, they were quickly dropped. However, some small reactors were designed and used for university research projects, medical and industrial isotope production and even nuclear submarine propulsion.

Small nuclear reactors can range in power output from less that one up to several hundred megawatts.

More recently, prospects for a so-called nuclear renaissance have revitalized speculation about the design and use of small reactors in Canada. For example, in an interview with CBC News, in February, 2009, Premier Brad Wall said ... he hoped Saskatchewan could play a role developing small reactor technology. He went on to say the provincial government might be able to devote some resources to research and development in that area.

A report by Saskatchewan's Uranium Development Partnership, (UDP) included an upbeat statement that because they require little or no refueling and produce both heat and electricity, small reactors could eventually compete with small-scale diesel, oil and gas generation as a power alternative in remote sites. The report went on to state that, Saskatchewan has the opportunity to participate in this market by partnering with a commercial technology developer on a demonstration project.

Ah, butthe history of small reactors in Canada includes some very expensive lemons, something that should give pause to anyone seriously contemplating getting into that kind of business.

As an example, one of those not so successful small reactor efforts was the SLOWPOKE 3, a brainchild of Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd. (AECL).

The Slowpoke became an issue for me in 1986, when I was a spokesperson for the Concerned Citizens' of Manitoba (CCM.), Canada, a nuclear waste watchdog group. After years of our lobbying, the Manitoba provincial government was poised to pass a bill which would prohibit the burial or long-term storage of high level nuclear waste in the Province.

AECL officials were quite upset over the upcoming legislation, one of their concerns being that the bill contained a clause which prohibited the storage of high-level nuclear waste originating from outside the Province for more than seven days. This, according to the AECL

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