Alberta opens nuke door

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Gary Park

For Petroleum News

The Alberta government is defying an uneasy public by inviting proposals to build nuclear power plants in the province.

Energy Minister Mel Knight, on Dec. 14, issued the results of a telephone poll indicating that 27 percent of Albertans oppose nuclear plants, 19 percent support them and 45 percent were open to considering them on a case-by-case basis.

In addition, Knight released the 177-page findings of consultations with 3,600 participants, 55 percent of whom said they were opposed to nuclear development and only 16 percent were open to a case-by-case review.

Relying on the telephone poll of “regular Albertans,” Knight declared the province would consider the controversial energy option, but would not invest government money or submit proposals to a moratorium.

He suggested the absence of subsidies might discourage companies from building plants.

“We are not proponents of nuclear energy,” he said. “We need power and proponents that want to build (nuclear plants) in Alberta are welcome to do so.

“A private company would be responsible for development and a private company would assume all risk.”

Keeping possibility open

“There are a number of challenges that require us to move from the status quo and, of course, the biggest of those is climate change. We can’t afford to close our mind to new possibilities.”

He said nuclear energy has the potential in a carbon-constrained world to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” echoing Premier Ed Stelmach who said the nuclear option is “one way of keep down our carbon footprint.”

Bruce Power — a partnership of TransCanada, Cameco and BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust which produces 20 percent of Ontario’s electricity — once proposed building a C$6.2 billion plant in the Peace River area of northwestern Alberta, but quickly collided with community resistance and never filed a formal application.

However, Bruce Power Chief Executive Officer Duncan Hawthorne said it was “encouraging to see the door remains open for us to demonstrate we can bring value to the province and help Alberta meet its future energy needs without contributing to greenhouse gas emissions.”

A company spokesman said government investment was never part of Bruce Power’s thinking.

It is estimated any plant would face three years of environmental assessment and need six years to build.