Manitoba can help billions have access to energy

Opinion

All over the world, billions of people have minimal access to electricity and energy. They do not have time for education, as they — particularly women — are too busy with domestic duties. These billions of people need more electricity and energy, so that their time can be freed up to do other activities such as education and leisure, for example.

If all eight billion of us had a decent standard of living, there would be four times as much energy consumed as there is currently. Manitoba and its First Nations communities can play a major role in alleviating this critical global energy shortfall.

The global population is projected to reach 10 billion by 2050. As the global population grows and economies grow, energy consumption is expected to continue increasing every year. Up to this point, greenhouse gas emissions also increase year over year.

Regions that want to grow their economies as their populations grow desire reliable, affordable and abundant energy. Much of this energy today for China and India, for example, is provided by fossil fuels, most of which is sourced from Russia.

Due to greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, all fossil fuel energy production must be permanently displaced.

Therefore, we need as much clean energy deployed as quickly as possible. The CEO of carbon removal developer Deep Sky, Damien Steel recently stated “We are long past the point of picking and choosing which solutions we use to fight climate change. We have to use it all.”

Including nuclear power. France delivers 70 per cent of its electricity using nuclear (Ontario — 60 per cent) and has been for over 40 years. What does France know that we don’t?

Nuclear energy will drive the acceleration to meet net-zero targets by 2050. All energy sources have their pros and cons, including nuclear energy. Those who are opposed to nuclear energy often site radioactivity. We need to put radiation into perspective. For example, the very popular beach in Guarapari, Brazil, in some places has radiation readings about equal to the centre of the Chornobyl evacuation zone in 1987. A 1930s fiestaware plate is slightly more radioactive than spent nuclear fuel dry cast storage.

Fukushima, 29 days after the accident, had the same background radiation levels as Winnipeg does today.

Canada is highly regarded and well respected all over the world for nuclear energy, as is the U.S.

However, it has now become difficult for most nations around to world to view the U.S. as a trusted economic partner. Canada should leverage this situation and ensure to make our nuclear energy expertise and technology more available all over the world.

On March 5, 2025, the federal government announced a $304-million loan over four years to modernize CANDU reactors, and $55 million for Ontario’s small modular reactor (SMR) initiative. It increased by $56 million SaskPower’s SMR pre- development work and promised $52.4 million for development and deployment for SMR’s and CANDU reactors in Saskatchewan, Ontario and Alberta.

Manitoba needs to sign the nuclear Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and New Brunswick have already signed. This MOU led to the development of the Interprovincial Strategic Plan for the Development of Small Modular Reactors, released in March 2022.

The Canadian Nuclear Laboratory site 10 kilometres west of Pinawa, Man. has room for several nuclear reactors, be they micro reactors, SMRs or CANDUs, etc.

It can be used for a development site and also for production to supply electricity to Manitoba Hydro. In recent years, we have experienced low precipitation, causing hydro dams to underperform, resulting in less electricity being exported. This low precipitation has also caused Hydro to import more electricity from the fossil fuel-dominated Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator grid in the U.S. In addition, electricity consumption in Manitoba is expected to increase significantly by the early 2040s. Nuclear reactors can also be used in hydrogen and synthetic fuel production, off-grid locations, desalination, industrial process heat and residential district heating.

Today, nuclear energy is expensive. This is due to regulations, reluctance to manage spent nuclear fuel and prices of various electricity generators being compared using “lowest cost of electricity.”

Meanwhile, “lowest full system cost of electricity” is a more thorough comparison. Nuclear may not be as expensive as some think.

If we take the time to learn about radiation and nuclear power and provide nuclear power with our full support, Manitoba and its First Nations communities can play a major role in ensuring reliable, affordable, abundant and clean energy is available to all citizens around the world.

Todd De Ryck writes from Winnipeg.