Connecting Technology with Communities: The Case of Small Modular Reactors

Indigenous people in northern and remote communities around the world share similar experience with energy systems. The history of energy development in those areas is based on the policy of ‘extractivism’ imposed by the ‘western’ world. This has led to the current situation where remote Indigenous communities often suffer from energy insecurity and energy poverty. Indigenous communities in Canada have been through transitions, not just in energy but other socio-economic sectors. Today these communities play an important role in the development of the energy profile for the country. Partnering with them to develop local clean energy production seems an obvious benefit to all parties. However, the record of these partnerships is poor, with some failing to produce the expected benefits and others failing to get off the ground at all. Recent policies push for accelerated energy transitions which create additional pressure where thorough and meaningful work with Indigenous partners is needed. In this dissertation, I research clean energy development from northern, remote, and Indigenous perspectives within the context of sustainability transitions literature. I focus on the social context of clean energy innovation development in potential application to small modular reactors (SMRs). SMRs currently have momentum as a potential technology for decarbonizing power production with recent discussions of the use of microreactors in remote communities. Since SMRs have yet to be deployed, I first review the literature on clean energy projects in northern and remote communities and outline the common features of successful projects. Next, I focus on one of these features, the role of intermediary actors and organizations, and show how intermediaries have developed distinct storylines about SMRs within the larger narrative of SMR development and deployment in Canada. Finally, I study four case studies of renewable energy projects in Indigenous communities. Using interviews with community leaders, I describe their perspectives and interests in energy projects and compare them with government and industry partners’ perspectives. The results reveal a fundamental misalignment of expectations between Indigenous communities and their partners. One of the central arguments of this dissertation is the importance of the role of Indigenous intermediaries, i.e., actors and platforms that sustain the momentum of transitions by linking actors, activities, and resources that can move easily between the communities and the larger energy production context. The work of Indigenous intermediaries reveals the need for the construction of a safe space where communities can frame the discussion within Indigenous worldviews and lived experience. I offer policy recommendations for how this space can be constructed and protected. Meeting this need can help in formulating policy around the successful deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs) or any other clean energy technology. Innovative features of the dissertation include reflections on the challenges of applying the Euro-centric approaches in the sustainability transitions literature in non-European environments, including remote, northern and Indigenous communities; a systematic review of the lessons from renewable energy case studies from sustainability transitions literature, their practical application in the context of SMR development, and community-based case studies of clean energy projects in application to SMRs.

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