SaskPower and GE Hitachi to share 'critical' technical and engineering information with new agreement

Search for nuclear site in Saskatchewan WATCH: Wayne Mantyka has more on the province's search for a site for a potential nuclear power plant.

Saskatchewan’s nuclear ambitions are one step closer to reality following a new agreement between SaskPower and General Electric Hitachi (GEH).

The newly signed agreement ensures the sharing of “critical technical and engineering information” between the Saskatchewan crown corporation and GEH, the company chosen to manufacture the Small Modular Reactor (SMR) that the province may use in the future.

Representatives from SaskPower and GE made the agreement official in Regina on Tuesday.

Going forward, the two companies will be able to collaborate on project planning and share expertise related to the design, fuel sourcing and fabrication for the BWRX-300 SMR.

The province says the collaboration will help support “workforce and supply chain planning” needed for an SMR in Saskatchewan.

“Gaining detailed technical specifications, requirements and designs to the BWRX-300 is necessary for our planning work and license applications,” SaskPower President and CEO Rupen Pandya said in a news release.

“Leveraging experience and expertise from our colleagues in the nuclear industry is an important part of our planning work.”

SaskPower selected the BWRX-300 as the reactor for its SMR development work in 2022. The same model was chosen by Ontario Power Generation for its Darlington New Nuclear Project.

The SMRs at Darlington are set to be completed by the end of 2028.

The BWRX-300 is a boiling water reactor capable of producing 300 megawatts from a single unit.

According to SaskPower, the design is based on similar large scale plants that have been operating across the globe for decades.

The agreement is said to streamline SaskPower’s planning and licensing work to inform its decision whether to proceed with nuclear power in the province.

That decision is set to come in 2029.

The province is currently studying two potential sites for an SMR near Elbow and Estevan.