Geotechnical and Structural Paradigms for the Design, Implementation, and Operation of Small Modular Reactors in Canada's North

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Nuclear power, as a clean energy source, plays a crucial role for economic development of the northern regions. Other sources of clean energy such as solar, wind, and geothermal provide intermittent and/or partial electricity, and are not entirely practical for long-term solution in islanded, micro-grid communities. Further, the geopolitical importance of Canada's Arctic necessitates a viable and continuous source of energy in such remote areas. Compared to conventional nuclear power plants (NPP), SMRs are considered safer, more cost effective, and more flexible, requiring smaller capital input with shorter construction periods. Such features make SMRs an ideal energy source in remote communities that are heavily dependent on diesel and other fossil fuels. SMRs, which would replace fossil fuels for heat and power generation to homes and heavy industries, will assist Canada in meeting its commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. While SMRs are faster to construct and easier to implement compared to NPPs, many concerns still need to be addressed especially in vulnerable (sub)arctic regions that are adversely affected by climate warming and corresponding permafrost degradation. The main objective of this research project is to develop structural and geotechnical paradigms for the design, implementation, and operation of Small Modular Reactors (SMR) in the northern Canadian permafrost regions. There are currently over 50 SMR prototypes globally with different modularity and scalability - all vying for adoption. Our vision is to develop a spatiotemporal multifaceted protocol for SMRs site selection considering the different attributes of existing SMRs for different sites in Canada's North and a seminal design methodology for permafrost foundations in the context of climate change and geohazards. Our proposed research encompasses different fields including permafrost engineering, geotechnical engineering, geomechanics, stochastics and climate non-stationarity, high-resolution monitoring and modeling of climatic and geohazards, geophysics, signal processing, computer science, and data science.