SaskPower has announced they are creating a new subsidiary in SaskNuclear to manage their work on producing small modular reactors (SMR).
Their work is seeing one SMR built in the Estevan area, with more possibly to come following that unit's construction after 2030.
The new subsidiary will be focused on the regulatory and business processes involved in nuclear development.
“Canada’s nuclear industry is held to a very high standard, and establishing a subsidiary dedicated to nuclear power will help SaskPower meet Canada’s strict regulatory requirements,” said Dustin Duncan, Minister Responsible for SaskPower. “The work done at SaskNuclear in the coming years will help support a final investment decision on whether to proceed with SMRs in 2029.”
SaskPower will wholly own the subsidiary and will share a president, CEO, and a board of directors.
“A key part of our planning and development work is to evaluate various business models that would advance our project as effectively as possible,” said Rupen Pandya, SaskPower and SaskNuclear President and CEO. “Establishing a nuclear subsidiary is the best option for a greenfield jurisdiction, like Saskatchewan.”
SaskPower says that because nuclear power is federally regulated it has differing standards and regulations that are unique to SaskPower's other power generation sources.
Through SaskNuclear it says the goal is "to build a nuclear information management system and establish a strong nuclear safety culture to become a licensed nuclear operator."