LLOYDMINSTER, Sask. – People in the northwest region of Saskatchewan might be getting a Deja vu feeling when it comes to the latest speculation about potential nuclear reactors for the area.
Talk is back on in the region that it could soon be home to one or even two large-scale nuclear reactors. That prospect was raised publicly by Premier Scott Moe during the Lloydminster Heavy Oil Show this past week in the Border City.
In speaking to reporters there, Moe pointed to the growing economy and its need for power, citing “just over $100 billion of private sector capital that is underway, is being constructed as we speak.”
Moe noted that the province’s “power needs are going to increase and increase substantially, and we have been very open about the fact that we're looking at increased nuclear power in the Estevan area.”
But he also pointed to the energy and mining investment they see coming, in particular in the northern part of the province.
That is where a potential northwest reactor might play a role, and Moe pointed out that the province had already done a “fair amount of work over a decade ago on various sites along the North Saskatchewan River.”
The indication from Moe is the government is “reviving some of that information and looking at how are we going to be able to move forward with a nuclear site here in the western side of the province to power what is going to be needed in the years ahead.”
Memories of the Bruce Power project
The comments from Moe bring back memories of 2008-09 and of the potential Bruce Power large-scale nuclear project that was proposed at the time.
Ontario-based Bruce Power had released a feasibility study into it in late 2008 and identified an area of northwest Saskatchewan, including Lloydminster, the Battlefords and Prince Albert as a potential location for a large-scale plant to supply electricity to the region and beyond.
That touched off “nuclear fever” in those communities, with a flurry of interest and intensive local efforts to organize public consultations and informational meetings. Bruce Power visited northwest communities to share information about the proposals; also organized was a trip for local officials to Ontario to see Bruce Power’s nuclear plant operation there.
The Battlefords Chamber of Commerce was among the groups staging informational meetings, with various guest speakers invited to provide information on the topic of nuclear power.
But those meetings ended up frequently being crashed by opponents of nuclear power, who would take to the microphones to raise their concerns repeatedly about environmental and cost worries related to nuclear. It was a sign of things to come.
Around the same time, the Saskatchewan government created a 12-member panel to examine in depth the issue of nuclear and uranium development. Chaired by Dr. Richard Florizone, the Uranium Development Partnership issued a 136-page report on the issue in March 2009 with 20 recommendations.
Following that report, the province appointed Dan Perrins to head up public consultations on the UDP report findings in 13 locations throughout the province, including in the northwest region.
But once again the consultations attracted a host of anti-nuclear activists. At one meeting in North Battleford, they took over the microphones to air out their concerns about nuclear power.
Instead of settling any questions the public had about nuclear power, the consultation sessions only seemed to highlight the deep divide in public opinion about the issue at the time.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Brad Wall government opted to back away from moving full steam ahead with nuclear. On Dec. 17, 2009 the province released its strategic direction on nuclear development, in which they confirmed a “specific proposal for a large-scale nuclear power plant will not proceed at this time.”
Minister Bill Boyd decisively closed the door on Bruce Power’s aspirations.
“We carefully evaluated the company's initial plans, however uncertainty around long-term costs to consumers remains a lingering concern," Boyd said in a news release at that time.
"Further, the large scale of the proposed nuclear power investment requires a regional approach involving, ideally, all three Prairie provinces for successful implementation."
But the reports, consultations and work that went on during 2008-09 on the issue of nuclear power would not be a wasted effort, as it turned out.
A new atmosphere in 2026
Fast forward to 2026, where there has a sea change of opinion on nuclear power.
The Saskatchewan government has been moving full steam ahead on a nuclear future, with it seen as a way forward to meet cleaner emissions targets by 2050. Even the opposition New Democrats are on board with a nuclear future, though the main parties have substantive differences on how to get there in the meantime.
But unlike the 2008-09 Bruce Power proposal, the immediate focus has been on developing a small scale reactor, with SaskPower in the process of considering options for an SMR site in the Estevan area. The earliest that could be up and running is likely around 2034.
With major mining and other developments happening in the province, talk of even more nuclear reactors including even large scale opportunities is now back in the forefront, particularly in the northwest.
Such a project could spur the potential for procurement in the northwest region. When asked at the Heavy Oil Show about whether Lloydminster companies should start to get in on this opportunity, Moe had this to say:
“When you embark on a large scale nuclear plant, there's a significant amount of local procurement that happens. There's also a significant amount of what they would call modulized procurement, that comes in and keeps the cost affordable for that particular plant.
“The opportunity that we will have with building one or two, or whatever the number is here in the province — SaskPower will determine what we can operate and what we need — is to use the build here in Saskatchewan to become part of the supply chain for all of the reactors that are being sold around the world.
“And so this is not just about building nuclear reactors to power Saskatchewan's future. That is a big part of it, but it's not the only part of it.”
The other opportunity, he said, is to “use the investment that we make in this province to onboard to allow the supply chain companies to utilize our outbuild in this province to size and scope their companies so that then they can build on the literally hundreds of reactors that are going to be built around the world and to supply them as part of the supply chain from this very province and this nation.”
“So there is an opportunity here when we collaborate to really have a much larger benefit to the investments that are being made in the energy space.”
