The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that Atkinsrealis has launched efforts to license its Candu reactor in the United States, an opening salvo into a market that has traditionally been regarded as off limits to foreign vendors. The Globe's Matthew McClearn writes that the Montreal company submitted a notice to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, Tuesday morning, beginning the process to obtain a licence for its Enhanced Candu 6, or EC6, reactor. The application arrives at a moment when the U.S. government is working to discourage imports of many Canadian products, including cars, steel and aluminum. Yet Atkinsrealis could benefit from a drive by U.S. President Donald Trump to reorganize the NRC with the explicit goal of speeding up licence applications for commercial nuclear power plants. Atkinsrealis is applying under a new streamlined process, known as Part 53, which compels the NRC to decide on granting licences for commercial power plants within 18 months. The EC6 is an updated, 730-megawatt version of a 1970s-era reactor that was exported to Argentina, Romania, Korea and China. Because it's not a first-of-a-kind reactor, the company hopes the NRC might license the EC6 even more quickly.