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A company that was aiming to build its first small modular nuclear reactor in New Brunswick is putting some of its assets up for sale as its future in the province is increasingly in doubt.
Moltex Energy Canada is selling its engineering designs, patents, software, intellectual property, modelling data and other assets to a new company looking to sell reactors elsewhere.
British Columbia-based Nuclea Energy Inc. is offering Moltex $11.5 million — a small fraction of what taxpayers have poured into the Saint John company in the last decade.
Moltex ran out of money last year and has been under the control of insolvency administrators.
Nuclea refers to what it’s buying as “distressed assets.”
But Moltex CEO Rory O’Sullivan told CBC News the company will continue to exist, and he’s not ruling out eventually moving ahead with building an SMR in the province.
Future of Moltex’s N.B. reactor plan in doubt as buyer bids $11.5 million for design, patents.
“New Brunswick is home to Moltex, and we’ve been here a long time,” he said.
“We are looking forward to working with New Brunswick to see if there is a future here.”
That prospect seems increasingly unlikely.
Last fall, Energy Minister René Legacy said he favoured “separating” the sourcing of new electricity generation from the political impetus for local job creation.
“We really don’t want the first of a kind,” he said. “New Brunswick is not in a position to take that kind of a risk.”
Nuclea says in its most recent filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it plans an initial public offering of shares to investors on the New York Stock Exchange and will use 20 per cent of the capital it raises for the Moltex purchase.
Last December, it signed an exclusivity agreement with Moltex in which Moltex agreed not to talk to any other potential buyers until March 31. That was later extended to May 8.
The filing says the sale “does not involve the acquisition of all of the assets or liabilities” of Moltex.
Nuclea’s reactor design, called Morpheus, is a microreactor that differs technologically from Moltex’s model, called a stable salt reactor.
The four main markets for Morpheus are Arctic communities, data centres, mines and remote military sites, according to the April 29 filing.
There is no mention of the original Moltex plan to locate its first reactor adjacent to N.B. Power’s existing Point Lepreau generating station.
Legacy said in a statement that he was aware of the potential sale and he looked forward to meeting the new owners.
Nuclea says its Morpheus reactor is “a first-of-a-kind design that incorporates novel features” and is “not yet fully validated.”
In its recent report, a review panel examining N.B. Power echoed Legacy’s earlier caution about new technology.
The panel said several previous governments expected N.B. Power “to act as an economic development agent promoting new and emerging technologies that have come with significant risk and financial exposure for ratepayers.”
The panel said to avoid compounding its already deep financial problems, the utility should avoid first-of-its-kind technology and choose proven models, such as larger CANDU reactors.
Moltex received $5 million from the Liberal government of Brian Gallant and $50 million from the federal government to develop its technology.
The Progressive Conservative government of Blaine Higgs was also an enthusiastic promoter of Moltex and a second developer, Arc Clean Energy Canada.
The companies would put New Brunswick “front and centre as a leader” worldwide in nuclear technology, former PC energy minister Mike Holland said in 2023.
Both companies said they would develop their reactors in New Brunswick, spurring job creation and economic spin-offs.
But both companies ran into financial problems that called into question their ability to have small reactors ready in time for a potential shortfall of electricity generation at the turn of the decade.
In 2024, a former Arc executive said N.B. Power should start looking at other options, such as SMR designs that were further along and would be available sooner.
Nuclea says its Morpheus reactor is the first of its kind, incorporating “novel features,” and is “not yet fully validated.”
Nuclea president Sagar Sanghera did not respond to an interview request.
