Canada's nuclear industry drew on plans created after the SARS crisis nearly 20 years ago to keep power plants and uranium mines operating safely during COVID-19.

The primary mandate of Saskatchewan’s nuclear secretariat is the development and execution of a strategic plan for the deployment of small modular reactors.

New Brunswick signed a memorandum Ontario and Saskatchewan to collaborate on the development of small modular reactors.

The news comes just a week after New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on developing SMR technology.

Any potential small modular reactor in Saskatchewan would not be active until at least the mid-2030s, according to the province's environment minister.

ARC Nuclear Canada that its president will attend a signing ceremony Sunday between the provinces of New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan to work in collaboration on the modular reactors "in an effort to mitigate the effects of climate change."

Once operational, it will become the world's northernmost nuclear power station.

"We are proceeding with it cautiously ... we are experimenting with two nuclear reactors," Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at a conference in Abu Dhabi.

As coal is phased out of Saskatchewan's power-generating fleet, other options will need to be considered, including small modular nuclear reactors.

The fuel is being removed from a cooling pool at one of three reactors that melted down in the 2011 disaster, a milestone in the decades-long process to decommission the plant.