In Deep Heavy Water: Cape Breton’s Foray into the Heavy Water Industry, 1963-1985

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the life and times of the Glace Bay Heavy Water Plant and The Port Hawkesbury Heavy Water Plant on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada, from 1963 to 1985. The Cape Breton heavy water plants were situated at the centre of major political and economic approaches to industrial development in Canadian peripheral regions during the post- Second World War years. The rise and fall of the heavy water plants in Cape Breton includes many major themes of Canada’s and Nova Scotia’s political economy during this period of Canadian history. The establishment and operation of the heavy water plants in Cape Breton was a major industrial undertaking that attempted to play its part in the emerging nuclear age. This thesis covers themes of Canada’s role in the development and export of nuclear technology and equipment, state interventionism in postwar Canada and Nova Scotia, and the shift in Canadian approaches to economic development.