Point Lepreau was a busy spot Monday with a major announcement regarding the Nuclear Research Cluster.
Recently the Gallant government announced $10.5 million for the cluster, but now Advanced Reactors Concepts is contributing $5 million for operations and research and an office in Saint John.
It is designing the ARC-100 a small modular reactor capable of producing 100 megawatts and would be much smaller than the reactor at Lepreau.
Energy and Resource Development Minister Rick Doucet welcomed the news.
“You have to have a vision, you’ve got to have some goals in mind and when you have some players like this, some private sector investment that steps up to the plate and is really quite keen on developing the technology right here in New Brunswick and what are the next steps and they are quite keen on moving it forward,” says Minister Doucet.
ARC CEO Don Wolf explains how this small modular reactor works.
Don Wolf CEO of ARC advanced reactor concepts describes how a small modular reactor they want to design and perhaps build in NB is inherently safe. pic.twitter.com/C9xVi5nkib
— Kevin Worrell (@kevinhworrell) July 9, 2018
Wolf also says because the fuel has a twenty-year life cycle and only the manufacturer can get access to it with special tools, it could not be used for proliferation for the creation of nuclear weapons.
