Quote:
Originally Posted by opendoor
Obviously the cooling is primarily done with electricity, what else would it be? And what heating isn't being done with electricity is mostly being done with natural gas for economic reasons. Heat pumps work great in more temperate areas and operating costs can rival gas. But their Coefficient of Performance drops pretty rapidly in the types of temperatures a lot of places in Canada see in the winter, making them less viable. And building up expensive nuclear power plants to power heat pumps in very cold climates (while likely better for the environment) will get very expensive, very fast (like probably triple the operating cost with current heat pump technology, never mind the capital costs).
If the electricity is extremely cheap and clean (like in Quebec) it can be a viable option in cold climates. But even SMRs are going to be pretty expensive relative to what they can produce, meaning the electricity will be more expensive and running a heat pump at a COP of 2 or something like that won't really be cost effective.
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There are many, many more uses for nuclear power in Canada than simply grid generation. The whole point of the SMRs is to displace dirty energy sources that are used in production, manufacturing, etc. One area where this could be deployed is in the oilsands, chemical and fertilizer production, etc.
In our business we are geothermal for heating & cooling, but we still make heavy use of propane for other needs. I'd venture a guess this is similar across Canada. (not saying nuclear replaces propane, but the applications are endless on a bigger scale).
Also, small scale reactors are probably going to be cheaper than $20 billion dollar hydro plants.