Toronto-based Canadian Strategic Missions Corporation (CSMC) has secured a $5 million grant from the Government of Alberta to support the development of an unfuelled prototype microreactor. The $10 million collaborative project, undertaken with the University of Alberta, aims to establish a testing hub for small-scale nuclear technology.
The project will see the construction of an unfuelled test reactor at the university’s Edmonton campus, alongside a broader Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on advanced nuclear research. By utilizing an unfuelled prototype, CSMC and the university can streamline technical validation, iterate on the system’s mechanical design, and collect operational data without triggering the stringent regulatory processes required for handling active fissile material.
“A new research reactor with the University of Alberta will be a key foundational block on which not only we, but the entire nuclear energy industry in Alberta, can build,” Daniel Sax, CEO and Founder of CSMC, said in a statement.
Aminah Robinson Fayek, Vice President of Research at the University of Alberta, added that the prototype “will help demystify the way this technology can be used to deliver sustainable, reliable power, while collecting feedback from researchers and community stakeholders.”
This provincial grant is the latest in a series of rapidly overlapping milestones for both CSMC and the domestic nuclear sector. As SpaceQ recently reported, CSMC secured a $1.2 million federal grant recently to develop an advanced manufacturing cell for its microreactors in Ontario. That manufacturing push aligns directly with the federal government’s newly outlined Nuclear Energy Strategy, which includes a $40-million feasibility study for deploying Canadian-controlled microreactors to power remote military bases in the Arctic.
By building a testing hub in Alberta alongside an in-factory manufacturing pipeline in Ontario, CSMC is actively de-risking its dual-use technology. While the immediate focus of these terrestrial projects is off-grid energy and Northern sovereignty, the underlying engineering remains directly applicable to the space sector. Maturing a compact, reliable, and emissions-free power system on Earth serves as the critical developmental groundwork needed to eventually supply nuclear fission solutions for future lunar surface operations.