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SaskPower announces partnership to develop small modular nuclear reactors

SaskPower, Ontario Power Generation and Laurentis Energy Partners announced a strategic partnership is established in nuclear power development. File / Global News

SaskPower announced a partnership agreement with Ontario Power Generation and Laurentis Energy Partners to establish a strategic partnership for the development of nuclear power reactors.

“Today’s announcement is about so much more than a partnership agreement,” said SaskPower CEO Rupen Pandya on Monday.

“Not only does it mark another milestone for our small modular reactor development project, but it also marks the leading role our provinces are poised to play in nuclear power development in Canada and around the world.”

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Dustin Duncan, the Saskatchewan minister responsible for SaskPower, said the “master services agreement” is a five-year plan and that all three partners are committing to building a clean energy future to help streamline small modular reactors (SMR) development in the province.

“To have an agreement that allows us to tap into that expertise and knowledge from a jurisdiction and organizations that have a great deal of expertise and history in the nuclear sector is critically important for Saskatchewan to be able to carry forward with us,” Duncan said.

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Ken Hartwick, president of Ontario Power Generation, said that it has over 50 years of experience in successfully running its nuclear facilities and that it is looking forward to working with Saskatchewan.

“The technology is real and the impact it can have on our all our climate goals is real,” Hartwick said. “By entering into the master services agreement, it really sets up a partnership between two companies that have a very similar ethos and a very similar way to approach things.”

Duncan said SaskPower is in year three of an eight-year process, and it is targeting 2029 to be the time when it will decide whether to go with SMR.

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