Sure. It's a subject close to my heart, but I'll try to keep it short if I can.
We've seen a great deal of R and D in Canada that has not always resulted in achieved results in terms of new power plants built or new research results, so R and D is an unpredictable business. It makes sense—perhaps both of us being from the university side now would see it this way—to start small and to do R and D in an exploratory way if you have a lot of unknowns, and then build that program outward, but not to try to jump into a huge program.
I think that one of the challenges facing Canada in terms of R and D in the nuclear area is going to be that we cannot do it all by ourselves. It would be very foolish for a middle power like Canada to try to achieve what was amazingly achieved with CANDU, which we did all by ourselves. Today, I don't think that's going to be possible.
Glenn mentioned that there are 30 SMR designs out there. None of them is uniquely Canadian. All of them have some relevance to Canada and have an international domain. Therefore, my plea would be that as a country and as industrial members we team up, participate, partner with, and co-operate with agencies and international organizations overseas because that will vastly multiply the amount of intellectual gain we get from our R and D. That would be one way we could move forward.
I would echo Glenn's comments that at some point you have to focus and agree that you pick something. It may not be the best. We all remember the stories of the VCRs, that Betamax was the best tape but it wasn't the one everyone chose. That's okay, because sometimes you pick something that works and you go with it. I think waiting around to find the best possible option isn't necessarily a good way.