Areva expresses interest in Sask. nuclear potential
Angela Hall, Saskatchewan News Network; Regina Leader-Post
Published: Friday, June 20, 2008
REGINA -- Saskatchewan's recent nuclear buzz has another major industry player signalling its interest in supplying the province with a nuclear reactor.
Areva Canada president Armand Laferrere said the company's existing presence in Saskatchewan's uranium industry could make it a "perfect fit" as the province considers going nuclear.
"Lots of markets are opening up to nuclear, or thinking about it, and so it's a good time to be in this industry," said Laferrere, who made the comments in the wake of an announcement by Ontario-based Bruce Power LP that it will conduct a feasibility study into the potential for nuclear power in Saskatchewan.
Premier Brad Wall has been vocal recently in promoting further development of the province's uranium industry, including refining and nuclear power.
Laferrere said his company would be interested in bidding to become the one to build a nuclear power plant should the opportunity arise as a result of the feasibility study.
Areva has a number of reactors worldwide but none in Canada.
"It's very early days, but as things progress, at one point they will decide who to buy the nuclear plant from, and we're one of the global leaders in that field," Laferrere said.
The company conducts uranium mining and exploration in Saskatchewan through Areva Resources Canada.
"This is a province we've been working in for about 40 years now. We have 500 employees in the uranium mines, so it's one of Areva's biggest operations.
"Clearly it's a province that we know and that we like," Laferrere said.
A day earlier, Hugh MacDiarmid, president and CEO of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., was in Regina at a local chamber of commerce event, touting the company's interest in supplying a nuclear power plant if plans in Saskatchewan proceed.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008
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Politicians must join nuclear debate
Murray Mandryk, Saskatchewan News Network; Regina Leader-Post
Published: Friday, June 20, 2008
If ever Saskatchewan needed an unbiased, third-party commission to help us sort through a divisive issue of major importance, it's on the adoption of nuclear power. Here's why.
On one side, you see the emergence of a pro-nuclear lobby, which sees a reactor as the best opportunity to take this province from its historic status as a social democratic, agrarian breadbasket that's barely capable of supporting a million people to something closer to the grand vision predicted for it 103 years ago.
On the other side, you see the well-established anti-nuclear lobby, which fears the extremely remote chance of a cataclysmic nuclear disaster as a risk not worth taking in a responsible, caring jurisdiction whose long-term energy needs can be satisfied with more gentle forms of energy, such as wind and solar power.
This is highly problematic for the vast majority of us in Saskatchewan, who already haven't adamantly expressed our firm views in a letter to the editor, a blog or a private or public radio talk show.
Actually, the best thing that could happen in this debate would be for those who've made up their minds to take a long, hard deep breath. That generally causes people to close their mouths for a moment, which might accidentally afford them a rare opportunity to hear what the other side has to say.
Obviously, we need a good debate on this issue. Alas, early indications in the wake of both the Bruce Power announcement and the AECL comments to the Regina Chamber of Commerce this week suggest that we aren't going to get it. In fact, we don't even have a forum at the moment to get this debate right.
Normally, such passion and divergence of opinion on an issue have made for great political debates in our legislature. Consider the medicare debate 45 years ago or the privatization debate 20 years ago.
But already signs are emerging that suggest the debate on whether to go down the nuclear path won't be happening in the legislature. In fact, all signs point to the likelihood that it won't be the politicians who will be driving this issue at all.
First, so politically explosive is the issue that both the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP seem to feel the need to step back.
The governing Saskatchewan Party isn't merely a quiet advocate of nuclear power but sees the development of a nuclear power plant as a huge component in its long-term growth agenda for Saskatchewan -- perhaps even Premier Brad Wall's legacy.
However, beside the fact that the government will have to be the regulator and would be perceived to be in a conflict of interest if it were an aggressive advocate for the plant, the Saskatchewan Party's braintrust is politically savvy enough to see the danger of being branded as the proponent.
No doubt, Saskatchewan Party officials will let their friends in such places as the oil sector, the chambers of commerce or the North Saskatoon Business Association (whose members would benefit from the boom in economic activity that a reactor would create) do their bidding.
But don't expect the NDP caucus to lead the charge against the reactor, either. Despite their natural penchant to oppose all things nuclear, the rudderless NDP fears being branded as another version of the Green Party that's perceived as opposing any growth initiative. The NDP instead will oppose a reactor on the bases of NIMBY, ultimately concluding that nobody's backyard in Saskatchewan is a good place for a reactor.
And while one usually might think it would be a good thing to exclude politicians from a debate, what it will do in this case instead is create a huge void -- a vacuum that will be filled by those with extreme views who don't have to subject themselves to the discipline of trying to get re-elected.
There's an inherent value in having a formal body that acts as an honest broker in this debate.
We need an unbiased analysis of such issues as how a nuclear plant might actually reduce the need to burn dirty coal, how concerned we should be about reports of higher leukemia rates near German nuclear power plants or whether adding 1,500 megawatts of generating capacity in Saskatchewan is needed or even smart.
The nuclear debate is too important to be left to those whose minds are made up already.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008
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SaskPower must own nuclear reactor
David McGrane, The StarPhoenix
Published: Friday, June 20, 2008
Following is the viewpoint of the writer, assistant professor of political studies at St. Thomas More College at the University of Saskatchewan.
We are about to embark on an important debate about whether a nuclear power plant makes environmental and economic sense for Saskatchewan. If we decide on nuclear power, it should be SaskPower that owns and operates the plant, not a private company from Central Canada.
Saskatchewan has a long history of publicly owned utilities that dates back to the creation of a long-distance telephone service in 1908.
It's disturbing that, on the 100th anniversary of public enterprise in Saskatchewan, the government seems to be turning its back on our tradition of public utilities by supporting Bruce Power's feasibility study that could result in a privately owned nuclear plant in this province.
AECL president Hugh MacDiarmid made a welcome contribution Wednesday to the debate in Saskatchewan over developing nuclear power when he noted there are "both public and private options." I believe any nuclear reactor built in Saskatchewan should be bought by SaskPower, either from a private sector company or a publicly owned company such as AECL, and then operated by the public utility.
The Saskatchewan government in 1945 justified the establishment of SGI by arguing that, "90 per cent of insurance in the province is being written in Eastern Canada, so the profits are going back East." The situation is no different now.
Under the proposal Bruce Power made this week, it would own the nuclear reactor and any profits generated by sales of electricity would go directly to its owners based in Toronto or Calgary and to shareholders around the globe. Cameco does own 31.6 per cent of four reactors operated by Bruce Power, but the Saskatoon-based uranium company is publicly traded and its profits are distributed to shareholders around the world.
If SaskPower eventually begins to buy electricity from a Bruce Power-owned nuclear plant, most of the money paid by Saskatchewan consumers will be exported outside the province. The vast majority of the profits that Bruce Power will make from selling electricity to Alberta or the United States from its Saskatchewan plant will leave the province, too.
However, if SaskPower were to own the plant, the profits it makes from selling its electricity to Saskatchewan residents would be transferred to the provincial government to fund better social programs or reduce the price we pay for electricity.
It should be remembered that the provincial government took in $587 million (about 6.7 per cent of its revenue) from Crown corporations in fiscal 2006-07 and that our Crowns have used their robust finances in recent years to cut rates or give rebates to consumers.
Manitoba Hydro and Quebec Hydro are good examples of provincial governments earning significant amounts by selling electricity to other jurisdictions.
A publicly owned power plant could be an opportunity for our government to sell (debatably) green energy to the larger North American market and use the profits to improve the quality of life in Saskatchewan through better infrastructure, health care, education and economic development.
Public ownership of nuclear power presents a number of social and economic advantages over private ownership. A plant owned by SaskPower would add jobs to its head office in Regina instead Bruce Power's headquarters in Ontario. These new SaskPower jobs would provide well-paying managerial positions to retain the brightest Saskatchewan youth in the province.
SaskPower could also be relied upon to purchase local supplies and construction materials.
The utility also has an innovative program to hire underrepresented groups such as aboriginals, people with disabilities, visible minorities and women in non-traditional occupations. Further, unlike private sector companies, SaskPower falls under the government's pay equity framework. Bruce Power's website makes no mention of employment equity or pay equity programs.
Nuclear power generation is associated with certain environmental dangers. As a publicly owned utility, SaskPower can be more closely monitored and regulated by the province to ensure that the highest environmental and safety standards are met. Since it controls the entire electrical grid in the province, SaskPower can be trusted to accurately discern how nuclear fits with an environmentally friendly mix of energy conservation and wind, solar, natural gas, hydro-electric, and clean coal electrical generation.
Indeed, it is SaskPower that should be doing the feasibility study on whether Saskatchewan needs nuclear power. As a private company, Bruce Power's feasibility study will be to examine if it can make a return on its investment. As a Crown Corporation, SaskPower could be mandated by the government to examine if nuclear power is the best environmental choice and if it would bring about the lowest electricity rates for consumers.
© The StarPhoenix (Saskatoon) 2008
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