Will Small modular [nuclear] reactors be part of net zero carbon emissions in the North?

If we’re in a war against climate change, then Canada’s north is arguably on the front line of that existential battle.

The northern part of Canada is where climate change is having some of its most dramatic effects – and it’s also where much of the electricity consumed gets generated by diesel, unhelpful in that it makes more greenhouse gases.

And as Madeleine Redfern, the Inuk former mayor of Iqaluit, points out – diesel power generation is expensive too.

Redfern says Iqaluit alone spends over $100 million every year on diesel.

“That’s $110 million of fossil fuel that our community’s burning for only 8,000 people,” says Redfern. “So we really do need and want an energy solution, but we also want an abundant energy solution because DeBeers has a mine nearby.