Trudeau promotes Canadian nuclear reactors at APEC summit in response to increased global demand for electricity

LIMA, PERU – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is using meetings with Asia-Pacific leaders in Peru to promote Canadian nuclear reactors as a response to expected increases in global demand for electricity. 

Speaking to business executives on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Lima on Friday, Trudeau said nuclear energy is a viable non-emitting option to meet the ravenous need for power created by artificial intelligence systems and electric vehicles manufacturing.

“The energy consumption necessary around AI nobody has properly understood yet,” he said. “We have stepped up big time on nuclear.”

Trudeau cited Canada’s uranium reserves and progress in building both full-scale reactors and small modular reactors. He said other countries need to “skate where the puck is going” on cleaner energy sources.

On Friday, CANDU-license holder AtkinsRealis announced a “multi-billion-dollar” sale of two CANDUs to Romania, the first to be built since 2007. The federal government contributed $3 billion in financing towards the new reactors, the company said in a press release. 

Trudeau said Canada’s mostly clean energy grid is attractive to foreign investments, pointing to agreements with electric vehicle manufacturers to build new energy-intensive factories in Canada.

But when he was asked by a panel moderator whether Canada would build more nuclear reactors for domestic use, Trudeau did not answer directly. Instead, he spoke about the evolution of the CANDU reactors and the development of small modular reactors.

“That’s going to be an essential part of the energy mix that we have to have if we’re going to meet the opportunity – not even the needs – but the opportunity of the coming years and we need to be part of it.”  

Canada currently gets about 15 per cent of its electricity from nuclear generation, mostly from reactors in Ontario, according to the World Nuclear Association. The high capital costs and concerns about disposal of waste have discouraged governments from building more nuclear plants.

International Trade Minister Mary Ng said Canada is launching a gateway for nuclear development in the Asia-Pacific region. She said growing Pacific Rim economies in the APEC group will face increasing demand for electricity, not just to curb emissions.

“The needs for AI, the needs for computing, the needs for data is just a reality,” she said. 

“We know that if we are going to meet our net-zero targets around the world and certainly in this region, nuclear is going to be really part of the mix.”

Trudeau’s remarks came after Canada announced the completion of negotiations on a trade agreement with Indonesia that the government hopes will open doors for sale of Canadian reactors in the world’s fourth-most populous country.  

“We’re talking about digital, we’re talking about nuclear — there is so much that we get to do together” Trudeau said at a bilateral meeting with Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto.

Trudeau is scheduled to meet with Peruvian president Dina Boluarte on the last day of the Lima summit on Saturday before travelling to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the Group of Twenty summit.