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Assessing the political climate for nuclear energy in Canada is not simple, because there are overlapping constitutional jurisdictions between the federal and provincial governments. While five provinces have no ties to nuclear, five others are cautiously supporting nuclear by either operating nuclear reactors currently in their province or seriously considering introducing them into their supply system.
The federal government is in the process of trying to sell off the CANDU reactor commercial division of the government-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). To date, a number of companies and entrepreneurs have expressed an interest, and two large Canadian companies (SNC-Lavalin and Bruce Power) have prepared and submitted bids, and appear to be the finalists being considered by the Government of Canada. For various reasons, the restructuring of AECL has been a very secretive process, and in a surprising legislative manoeuvre it was embedded in the 2010 Omnibus budget bill, giving the federal Minister of Natural Resources jurisdiction to privatize AECL without going through the debate and ratification procedures of Parliament. The public will not know what the sale price was or what liabilities the federal government will assume.
The province of New Brunswick is likely the most pro-nuclear province. There is a bipartisan consensus, also consistently endorsed in public opinion polls, in favour of nuclear energy. The Point Lepreau reactor was traditionally one of the world’s most efficient plants and supplied almost 30% of the province’s electricity. In addition, New Brunswick signed a MOU with Team CANDU to investigate building a second reactor for the province. When that agreement expired, a MOU was signed with Areva for the same purpose. Tempering this pro-nuclear sentiment has been the refurbishment of Point Lepreau which has been marred by various technical and project planning problems, resulting in delays and cost overruns. It is now expected to be completed in the Fall of 2012 (three years late) with an additional cost of over $1 billion.
Quebec is blessed with abundant hydro-electric capacity and is home to a powerful environmental lobby. This helps to explain why the majority of the public there is so opposed to nuclear energy. Nevertheless, Quebec does have the Gentilly-2 reactor providing about 3% of the province’s electricity. In August 2008, the Quebec government announced that it was spending $1.9 billion to extend the life of Gentilly-2 to 2040. However, two years later, they have pushed back the start of the project to 2012 when the Point Lepreau refurbishment will be completed.
There are no power reactors in the prairie provinces, but in 2009 both Alberta and Saskatchewan (home to 25% of the world’s uranium mining) conducted separate public consultations concerning the introduction of nuclear energy in their respective provinces. In December 2009, the Saskatchewan government announced that, because of high capital costs, it would not consider nuclear energy until after 2020. In the same month, the Alberta government announced that it was a private sector decision and they would neither prevent it nor subsidize it. However, the drop in natural gas prices and the uncertainty over carbon pricing has reduced Bruce Power’s enthusiasm for constructing reactors in Alberta in the near term.
Ontario is Canada’s largest province and the home of twenty of Canada’s twenty-two nuclear power reactors. Recently, the Government of Ontario re-confirmed that it needs nuclear energy to continue to provide approximately 50% of the province’s electricity. In pursuit of this nuclear agenda: four reactors which were shut down in 1997 have been restarted, two reactors are currently undergoing refurbishment, 14 additional reactors are planned for different degrees of life extension by 2016, and two new reactors were to be built (until recently suspended due to issues of cost and uncertainty over the future restructuring of AECL).
In short, the mood is one of cautious support for nuclear energy at the provincial level, but an apparent lack of support at the federal level. Provincial governments are spending billions to maintain their reactor fleets, but have not yet started to build new nuclear plants. Their nuclear decisions are being guided by cost issues (high capital costs, low natural gas prices, a failure of governments to place a price on carbon, etc) as well as over the uncertainty surrounding the future of AECL. Meanwhile, it is clear that the federal government wants to get out of the nuclear power business.
By Dr. Duane Bratt, Department of Policy Studies, Mount Royal University, and NA-YGN Member
A copy of this essay can be found in the latest issue of NA-YGN’s Go Nuke, here.
