Thinking Big About Small: Using the SMRs Full Lifecycle Footprint as an Example of a "Meaningful Engagement" Issue

Abstract

SMRs provide an opportunity for the nuclear industry to reinvent itself, growing both in size and in public perception. The Canadian SMR Roadmap, developed to enable this reinvention, identifies four pillars to success, one of which is "capacity, engagement and public confidence". It recommends that governments and utilities "should conduct meaningful, two-way engagement with indigenous peoples and communities".The reinvention of the nuclear industry, enabled both by advanced reactors and new fuel cycles and by the imperative of climate change action, provides an opportunity to engage the public through a “new nuclear” brand. An important case in point is with regard to public confidence in the management of used nuclear fuel, a historically contentious issue that has restricted the industry's ability to grow.In this paper modern theories of engagement are discussed in the context of nuclear fuel lifecycle management and a way forward is proposed.