Saskatchewan and Ottawa invest over $900K to prepare businesses for province’s nuclear shift

The federal and provincial governments are committing over $900,000 to Saskatchewan’s nuclear sector. Sierra D’Souza Butts reports.

Organizations hoping to support Saskatchewan’s planned nuclear energy sector are getting a helping hand from both the provincial and federal governments.

Tuesday saw Ottawa commit $625,100 in support for the Saskatchewan Industrial and Mining Suppliers’ Association Inc. (SIMSA), the Organization of Canadian Nuclear Industries (OCNI), and Southeast Techhub Incorporated (SETH).

The province will contribute $286,000 through the Crown Investments Corporation (CIC) - leading to a total of $911,100.

The joint funding commitment was announced in Estevan Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s not just about big projects. It’s about making sure local businesses right here in Estevan and across Saskatchewan can be part of that nuclear future,” Buckley Belanger, the secretary of state for rural development said in the announcement.

The province has previously identified two locations near Estevan as candidates for the site of Saskatchewan’s first small modular nuclear reactor.

“We already are known as the Energy City for oil and gas and for coal. This will add on to it, and it builds into the knowledge base that we already have in our community,” Gordon More, executive director of Southeast Techhub Inc., told CTV News.

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The federal government says the joint investment will help inform and educate local companies about supply chain opportunities in the nuclear industry while facilitating connections between businesses in Saskatchewan and vendors in the nuclear supply chain.

The funding will also help companies develop “micro-credentials and accreditation support to meet industry standards.”

SIMSA represents more than 380 Saskatchewan-based suppliers. The province said Tuesday that nearly half of them expressed an interest in beginning the accreditation process.

“It’s building this knowledge base,” SIMSA executive director Eric Anderson told CTV News. “The hard part is just learning the paperwork and learning the processes, and then making the connections to get it going.”

Travis Keisig, the legislative secretary for CIC, reiterated that the province’s turn to nuclear power is going to take a lot of preparation across various industries.

“There hasn’t been a new greenfield nuclear environment in North America in over 40 years,” he explained. “So there are a lot of steps we have to go through as a provincial government to meet all the criteria.”

In 2024, a total of 89,000 people were employed within Canada’s nuclear workforce. The industry contributed $22 billion to Canada’s GDP.

According to Ottawa, Saskatchewan will need around 2,500 to 3,500 skilled workers, mostly in trades, to build and later operate nuclear power plants in the province.