Programmes and agreements / prg-jm-nuclear-smr-assessment

Jamaica nuclear energy assessment focused on SMRs (Nuclear Energy Working Committee, CNL/AECL memorandum)

Jamaica's government is assessing nuclear power through a reconstituted Nuclear Energy Working Committee, building on an October 2024 memorandum with Canadian Nuclear Laboratories and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited that covers SMRs. In June 2026 the science minister said the programme's documents converge on SMRs under a build-own-operate-transfer model, but that Jamaica is not about to build a plant, next steps are public consultation, a nuclear cooperation agreement with Canada, IAEA notification and a regulatory framework.

Not a deployment project. SMR plans, agreements, studies and government programmes that are not (yet) a single deployment project. They are listed separately and are never counted as projects or reactors.

Type

Government programme

Countries concerned

Jamaica

Participants and roles

• Government: Government of Jamaica (Ministry of Science, Technology and Special Projects)
• Government: Nuclear Energy Working Committee
• Research: Canadian Nuclear Laboratories
• Government: Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
• Research: ICENS, University of the West Indies Mona

Designs named

—

Scale as stated

Assessment only, SMRs of up to about 100 MW cited as typical of those under consideration, no units or site

Announced or first reported

Oct 2024

Status

Active
Assessment and readiness work, minister says Jamaica is not about to build a plant

Confidence

medium

Last checked

2026-10-14 (record review date, not proof of current activity)

Related deployment projects

• No related deployment project is recorded here.

Sources

• Jamaica advancing plans for use of nuclear energy, says Wheatley (reputable_press, published 6 Jun 2026, accessed 2026-10-14)
• Jamaica’s nuclear prototypes within six years amid wider two-decade time horizon (academic_primary, published 1 Feb 2026, accessed 2026-10-14)