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Nuclear plant proposed for drinking-water lake
Area near Saskatchewan's Lake Diefenbaker called 'preferred site' for plant
Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, May 08, 2008
SASKATOON -- A lake that helps provide drinking water to about 40 per cent of Saskatchewan residents is the provincial power utility's preferred site for a nuclear power plant, a national media outlet reported Wednesday.

CBC News said a report by Stantec Consulting Ltd., prepared in February 2007, says a power plant at Elbow, near Lake Diefenbaker in southern Saskatchewan, would be preferable to other sites.

"Potentially, the Lake Diefenbaker region could be the site of a Candu 6 plant configured with two steam turbine generators instead of the standard 750-megawatt, single-steam turbine unit," the report said.


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Font:****"Plant output from this option would be split equally between Saskatchewan and Alberta."

Noted in the report is the area's large water supply, necessary for generating nuclear power.

CBC says the report also cautions that approximately 40 per cent of Saskatchewan residents get their drinking water from the Lake Diefenbaker watershed.

The report, commissioned by the previous NDP government, suggests more studies before any location is chosen.

Earlier this week, Saskatchewan Natural Resources Minister Bill Boyd confirmed Alberta and Saskatchewan are competing to house Western Canada's first commercial nuclear power plant.

Boyd said his Saskatchewan Party government has held "early" talks with Bruce Power LP, the private nuclear operator from Western Ontario.

Bruce Power had previously laid out plans for a $10-billion-plus nuclear complex near Peace River, Alta., about 450 kilometres northwest of Edmonton, operating by 2017.

But the company has left the door open to other sites.