Nuclear Power

The Alberta government remains open-minded on the merits and challenges of nuclear power generation. 

As a first step in considering this issue, the Government of Alberta created a “Nuclear Power Expert Panel” to gather information and present facts on nuclear energy to Albertans.  This panel began its work in 2008 and has submitted its reportto government.

The Government of Alberta has also conducted a broad public consultation to obtain Albertan’s views on whether or not nuclear power should be considered as an option for meeting Alberta’s energy needs.  In support of the consultation, Albertans were informed of the process through advertising online, and in daily and weekly newspapers across Alberta.

The nuclear consultation was managed by an independent research company using a number of different methods to obtain feedback from Albertans, including:

• A workbook and survey was developed and made available to all Albertans as an interactive online website with 3615 completed responses.  Albertans were also able to submit printed copies of the survey, made available at public libraries or by phoning Alberta Energy toll-free.
• Twenty discussion groups were held in ten communities with 2 groups being held at each location across Alberta. Approximately 200 randomly selected Albertans were invited to participate in Edmonton (April 21), Calgary (April 30), Peace River (April 22), Grande Prairie (April 23), Fort McMurray (April 28), Medicine Hat (April 29), Taber (April 28), Wainwright (April 23), Rocky Mountain House (April 22), and Whitecourt (April 29).
• Six stakeholder discussion meetings were held (in Edmonton, June 3-5) with individuals from groups that came forward asking to participate and those identified as having an interest in the issue.  Persons attending represented their own views but may have provided a perspective from their organization.  Included were local government (members of the Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties and the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association), aboriginal people (individuals from First Nations and Métis communities representing their personal points of view), business (members of the Alberta Chamber of Resources, the Alberta Chambers of Commerce, Independent Power Producers Society of Alberta, and the Sustainable Regional Socio-Economic Development Group), and environmental groups (Pembina Institute, Nuclear Free Alberta, Sierra  Club Prairie Chapter, Citizens Against Nuclear Development, Athabasca Bioregional Society, The Tipping Point Project, Citizens Advocating the Use of Sustainable Energy, High Prairie Regional Environmental Action Committee, Peace River Environmental Society, Green Sustainable Non-Nuclear Chinook Country Enterprise, Stop Poisoning Our Communities and Earth Alternatives).
• A large quantitative telephone public opinion survey, conducted from July 8^th to July 20^th 2009, included 1024 Albertans.

The nuclear consultation encouraged an open discussion in Alberta, and provided feedback that will be important in developing a provincial policy on the issue of nuclear power generation. 

The nuclear consultation workbook and survey is now closed.  Access the Nuclear Consultation workbook(used in the consultation).

Nuclear Power Expert Panel - Report on Nuclear Power and Alberta

Nuclear Power and Alberta: Background Report

Prepared for the Minister of Energy by the Nuclear Power Expert Panel

Executive summary

On May 8, 2008, the Minister of Energy of the Government of Alberta, the Honourable Mel Knight, issued a Ministerial Order establishing the Nuclear Power Expert Panel. The order directed the panel to “prepare a balanced and objective Report for the Government of Alberta on the factual issues pertinent to the use of nuclear power to supply electricity in Alberta.” This report is the panel’s response to that request.

Energy in all its forms, including electricity, is key to the maintenance and growth of all modern economies. Canada, more than most, depends on reliable, economic forms of energy for its quality of life and standard of living. This is especially true in Alberta given the significance of the production of hydrocarbon energy supplies to Alberta’s economic prosperity.

Nuclear energy is increasingly being considered within public policy discussions of various energy alternatives. If any application for a nuclear power generation facility was made in Alberta, it would create significant public debate. Such discussion would be most productive if it were conducted with a clear understanding of the nature of nuclear power generation and its relative risks/benefits compared with alternatives.

This report is based on current scientific information to help provide such an understanding.  This report does not make any recommendation regarding the advisability of constructing a nuclear power generating facility in Alberta. The panel was not asked to make any such recommendation. Key conclusions from the panel’s research include:

1. Alberta’s economy and population will continue to grow and significant additional electrical power will be needed to maintain and improve the standard of living of Albertans. Options include more fossil-fuel-burning power plants (with or without carbon capture), more renewable sources and greater energy efficiency, as well as nuclear power.
2. Each technology has trade-offs associated with it. Such trade-offs include the availability of technology, environmental impacts, costs and operating implications for the Alberta system.
3. The decision to build a plant – whether powered by thermal combustion, or wind or nuclear – is a private-sector decision taken by a company based on its assessment of the project’s economic viability. But, as with any large industrial construction project, all such plants must obtain approval from relevant government and regulatory authorities regarding their impacts or consequences.
4. Nuclear power has been in use for generating electricity for more than 50 years, and more than 400 units are in operation worldwide. New designs, based on learning from previous incidents and from long-term safe operation, are safer, more efficient and easier to control and operate.
5. Nuclear power does not release carbon dioxide. This is a significant difference (in environmental terms) between it and traditional technologies using coal and natural gas.
6. The offsetting concerns relate primarily to nuclear waste disposal. While the spent fuel removed from a reactor is radioactive, more than 99% of this material is made up of the heavy metals uranium and plutonium, which can be recycled to be reused as nuclear fuel. The remaining waste fission products decay comparatively quickly. Thus a program of separating the spent fuel and recycling heavy metals will dramatically reduce the amount of waste to be dealt with and the time period during which this material would be radioactive at levels above the natural background radiation. (Capturing carbon from fossil fuel plants also creates storage issues.)
7. In Canada, the Federal Government has the authority and responsibility for approving and regulating all nuclear facilities and nuclear-related activities.  Normal provincial approvals required for any major project would also be required, based on the Province’s constitutional responsibility for land and resources.
8. Any nuclear generating project would be a major construction project and have social impacts in areas such as schools, hospitals, transportation infrastructure, Aboriginal communities, local economies, housing and so on. Significant though these issues might be, they are regularly dealt with by the Government of Alberta and its agencies and affected municipalities.

This report is written so that interested readers can gain an understanding of the issues specifically related to adding nuclear powered plants into the province’s inventory of electricity generating facilities. To the extent possible, technical jargon has been avoided while ensuring comprehensive coverage of the issues involved. A bibliography is provided so that readers so inclined can delve deeper into areas of interest.

It is the panel’s hope and expectation that this report will be a helpful contribution to a public discussion on nuclear power generation based on scientific evidence and empirical findings from experiences with nuclear power generation around the world. 

1.  Introduction

The world’s need for energy in the form of petroleum and natural gas has provided much of the impetus for rapid growth in Alberta’s economy and population. In turn, this has created a growing demand for energy in the form of electricity. Currently most of Alberta’s electricity needs are met by plants that burn coal or natural gas, with modest additional amounts from other sources such as hydroelectric facilities and more recently wind power. While there is considerable interest in other non-conventional power generation means such as geothermal, bio-fuel, solar, etc., it is unlikely that these technologies will be able to satisfy all of Alberta’s growing electricity needs.

This report starts with an analysis of the current electricity supply and demand situation in Alberta.  This analysis indicates clearly that additional supply of electricity will be needed and considers the various alternatives available to meet this anticipated future demand. 

In response to this need, a range of new power generation options can be considered, one of which is nuclear power. Although there are more than 400 nuclear plants in operation around the world and several in Eastern Canada, Alberta’s citizens and government have little experience with this technology. While the Federal Government has the constitutional authority to authorize any nuclear facility in the country, there is a need for the citizens of Alberta to have a reasonable level of understanding of the issues and concerns associated with nuclear power plants. 

Anticipating an application to construct a nuclear plant, the Government of Alberta has created this “Nuclear Power Expert Panel”, with a mandate to provide a factual report on the issues pertinent to using nuclear power to supply electricity in Alberta. The duties and functions of the panel and the list of specific issues which the panel was asked to address are shown in Appendix A. Pointedly the panel was not asked to make any recommendation for or against a nuclear power plant.

This report is intended to be an unbiased compilation of the scientifically accepted information underpinning the issues associated with nuclear power. The information contained herein is based upon facts and data supplied by panel members and by the Alberta Research Council and the Idaho National Laboratory, who were commissioned by the panel to compile background information.

To avoid any bias and appearance of bias, the panel made the decision to decline any and all invitations to meet and/or to receive submissions from proponents or opponents of nuclear power. Also, to make the contents of the report as accessible as possible to the majority of Albertans, it is written in plain language, as free from technical jargon as possible. Should an application for construction of a nuclear plant come forward in Alberta, the panel hopes this report will provide a foundation of facts upon which an informed discussion or debate on the issues associated with nuclear power can be conducted.

Many of the issues of concern regarding a nuclear power plant are the same as the issues that would be associated with any large power plant. All thermal power plants have common elements in the sense that each has a source of heat to produce steam, which powers turbines that turn generators to create electricity. Issues regarding transmission lines, supporting infrastructure, skilled operators, water requirements, etc. are common to all power plants of a similar size.

Creating heat through nuclear reaction as opposed to the chemical reaction of carbon based fuel and oxygen is, of course, an important difference. This report focuses upon nuclear-specific aspects of this technology. This should not be taken as discounting the importance of those issues that are relevant to large-scale power plants in general.

As requested by the Minister of Energy, the work of the panel was focused on a hypothetical, large, baseload nuclear power plant. (For purposes of the report, the panel has used an 800-MW unit.) However the panel would be remiss if it did not acknowledge that in some quarters consideration is being given to the use of nuclear reactors to generate process steam – in other words, steam that would be used for purposes other than just the generation of electricity.

For example, the recovery of bitumen from oil sands, both mined and in situ, consumes a considerable amount of energy, usually in the form of steam. The economic and environmental issues associated with burning natural gas or other carbon based fuels to produce the steam have led to some consideration of nuclear alternatives. While nuclear reactors for these purposes may be smaller than those for large base-load power plants, the issues related to them would be very similar. The information in this report would be applicable to the consideration of any such proposed developments.

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