Thank you.
Chair, members of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today on behalf of the Canadian nuclear industry. Reaching Canada's 2050 net-zero target is going to require a paradigm shift in how we approach the production, distribution, and use of energy in Canada. There are no easy solutions to this problem, and the scale of the challenge is not widely understood or accepted.
What is clear, however, is that meeting this challenge will require the more rapid deployment of all available clean energy technologies, such as wind, water, solar, conventional and nuclear, as well as the dramatic scaling up of emerging technologies such as hydrogen, small modular reactors, marine renewables and long-term storage.
In recognition of the massive challenge and the need to deploy both existing and emerging clean technology at speed and scale, the national associations representing all the technologies I've referenced have formed formal alliances and are jointly working together on policy positions to inform strong decision-making by this government.
Nuclear power is increasingly being recognized as part of the solution in our collective climate challenge and domestic energy security needs. Canada has been a leader in the research of the nuclear industry at home and globally. We are delivering refurbishment of our existing nuclear fleet in Ontario ahead of time and under budget. Small modular reactor projects are being actively planned and executed in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick, and our uranium mining sector remains critical to the world's nuclear industry. However, there's much to be done to enable nuclear power to play the role that is required for Canada to meet its targets.
As this committee studies and considers the required policies to enhance Canada's clean energy sector, we recommend that Canada urgently require the development of a clear clean energy industrial strategy. The strategy should include all clean energy technologies, defined as technologies that do not emit greenhouse gases. As we outlined in our recent budget submission, nuclear technologies must explicitly and purposely be included in all efforts to address the climate crisis and energy security needs.
To enable Canada to meet its net-zero targets, we recommend the following specific actions to support the industry. We recommend the inclusion of nuclear and clean-tech tax credits programs, a clear and predictable process in the Impact Assessment Act to ensure timely deployment, support for uranium and CANDU nuclear technology exports to key countries such as Romania and South Korea, as well as support for the SMR initiatives in key markets such as Poland and Estonia. We recommend the recognition of uranium and other minerals that are used in the nuclear industry as critical to the clean energy economy in the clean mineral strategy; financial mechanisms to support the development and deployment of nuclear energy and technologies; modernizing and aligning regulations, codes and standards to facilitate technology development deployment and export; and recognition of the development of hydrogen through clean energy such as nuclear as preferable to greenhouse gas-emitting technologies.
Through implementation of these support measures, Canada will be putting nuclear on a level playing field with the other low-carbon clean technologies.