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Canada moves to 2% GDP end of FY25/26 - PMMC

I'm starting to think someone in the PMO reads this forum.


Without paywall:
https://archive.ph/0WBPO
Mate I thought we started talking about that BECAUSE of a previous media release...??
And that’s only a bit more to build roads into that part of the world - a good reminder for folks calling for those options for remote areas.
I literally had no idea terrain like that existed in Canada until just now...

Just reminds me that anytime a solution seems simple but hasn't been implimented, there's probably a complicating factor I'm unaware of. (Remembering this helps keep me humble)
 
The terrain in Northern MB is no joke. Tens of thousands of sq km of this with untouched stands of the Boreal to boot.

View attachment 94310
Manitoba recently completed Bipole lll, a 500kv direct current line from generating plants in the north to Winnipeg. Direct Current lines are more efficient and have much less line losses but do require converter stations at either end to go from AC to DC and then the reverse from DC to AC. The line is 1400 kms in length and cost just over 6 billion dollars. Roughly $4.3 million per kilometer. The cost of running this line underground could be up to 10 times the cost.
$4.3M per kilometer!? Holy shit Batman...

Manitoba isn't the type of province to waste taxpayer dollars on unpractical things either...that's one expensive project


That is right now.
Here is the "what if" - maybe, at some indefinite point in the future.


“The GE-Hitachi BWRX-300 is a 300 MWe water-cooled, natural circulation Small Modular Reactor (SMR) with passive safety systems,” according to the manufacturer.
Each of the 300 MWe SMRs cost between $1 billion to $1.5 billion and can provide enough electricity to power approximately 240,000 homes.

6 Billion for 1400 kms of wire or 4 to 6 SMRs. One every 3 to 400 km?
 
$4.3M per kilometer!? Holy shit Batman...

Manitoba isn't the type of province to waste taxpayer dollars on unpractical things either...that's one expensive project
Kinda sounds like a TTC transit project.

The subsea cable between NL and NS cost $1.7Bn for 170km.

6 Billion for 1400 kms of wire or 4 to 6 SMRs. One every 3 to 400 km?
Which would be fine if you had sufficient load every 3-400 km. You can't daisy-chain generation.

Given the history of nuclear plant development worldwide, I await the actual figure to build one to commissioning.

People get a little too excited about the term 'small modular'. Many envision something in a seacan you can drop into a remote FN or arctic community. Again, great if you had 240,000 households of load but I think the remote communities are a tad smaller. Also, many place struggle to develop and maintain the expertise to keep a water system running.
 
Kinda sounds like a TTC transit project.

The subsea cable between NL and NS cost $1.7Bn for 170km.


Which would be fine if you had sufficient load every 3-400 km. You can't daisy-chain generation.

Given the history of nuclear plant development worldwide, I await the actual figure to build one to commissioning.

People get a little too excited about the term 'small modular'. Many envision something in a seacan you can drop into a remote FN or arctic community. Again, great if you had 240,000 households of load but I think the remote communities are a tad smaller. Also, many place struggle to develop and maintain the expertise to keep a water system running.
I feel like Iqaluit/, Yellowknife and Whitehorse might be good candidates for SMRs.
 
I feel like Iqaluit/, Yellowknife and Whitehorse might be good candidates for SMRs.
I don't know a whole lot about SMRs but it would depend on how scalable they are. If they are anything like our Cando reactors, the answer is 'not much' as they are designed to operate at close to 100% thermal efficiency. I don't know if there is an accepted formula for converting 'household' to population, but it seems plunking an SMR designed to power 200,000 households into the City of Iqaluit , population 7500, might be a tad overkill.
 
... I literally had no idea terrain like that existed in Canada until just now...
You're far from alone in not being familiar with the scale and distances involved, just like I'm not familiar with the issues of density some of the other bits of Canada experience. After all, how would memes like this survive on the interwebs otherwise? ;)
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Ask 100 MP's in Ottawa how long it takes to drive across Ontario, and you'd be surprised at the range of numbers they'll give you - and how WAY low many of them are :)
... Just reminds me that anytime a solution seems simple but hasn't been implimented, there's probably a complicating factor I'm unaware of. (Remembering this helps keep me humble)
I don't think dopiness and inefficiency is EVER completely zero in these situations, but often, scale/distances are a factor in Canadian infrastructure development for sure.
 
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