New Brunswick’s new Liberal leader is questioning whether small modular nuclear reactors are the answer to the province’s energy needs, a more cautious stance than her party’s previous full support for the technology.
Susan Holt said after winning the leadership Saturday that while the potential jobs created by SMRs would be good for the province, she was looking for more evidence that they are the right bet for clean energy.
“It’s an interesting project on an economic development level … but I’m not sure it’s the power generation solution for our province,” Holt told reporters.
“I think it’s still not clear that it’s really going to give us energy in a way that’s responsible and efficient with our investments, so there’s more to be determined there.”
Two St. John’s-based companies, ARC Clean Energy and Moltex Energy, have received tens of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding to develop reactors.
Former NB Power president Gaetan Thomas warned that the small reactors may not be ready in time for the end of coal production at Belledune. (Catherine Harrop/CBC)
Nuclear power does not emit carbon dioxide, which causes climate change, although environmentalists have noted safety and long-term waste concerns.
Last year, the province provided ARC with $20 million, while Moltex received more than $50 million from the federal government.
The previous provincial Liberal government gave each of them $5 million.
Holt held the title of head of business relations at the Labor Board secretariat under then-Liberal Prime Minister Brian Gallant at the time ARC and Moltex received this initial funding.
Both the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives have so far been enthusiastic supporters of SMRs, arguing they are needed to provide reliable baseload power as the province shifts away from greenhouse gas-emitting electricity generation and toward renewable energy.
Louise Comeau, director of climate change and energy solutions at the New Brunswick Conservation Council, welcomed Holt’s interest in asking more questions about SMR. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
Former Liberal leader Kevin Vickers called SMRs “a complete game-changer” during the last election and said New Brunswick could be a “global leader” in this area.
But at legislative committee hearings in January, former NB Power CEO Gaetan Thomas and officials from Saint John Energy warned that SMRs may not be ready in time to replace electricity from the Belledune power plant, which must stop using coal by 2030
Thomas told MLAs that the regulatory requirements “could put us in a situation where we can’t meet the 2030 or 2035 targets.”
Louise Comeau, director of climate change and energy solutions for the New Brunswick Conservation Council, welcomed Holt’s comments.
“It sounds to me like the new leader is open to more information and analysis, which is what we desperately needed on the small modular nuclear reactor issue,” she said.
Former NB Power President Keith Cronkite said the company had been looking for fuel sources to serve as brakes until the SMRs were ready. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)
“We were more in the phase of noise and boosterism. … I think what she said is that we need to have more information, we need to look at all the options, and we would really agree with that. Wind and solar and efficiency and all the other options have to be part of the portfolio.”
Susan O’Donnell, a member of the New Brunswick Coalition for Responsible Energy Development, said she’s glad Holt is “reading the independent research on SMRs instead of the nuclear industry’s sales and marketing materials.”
No one from the Higgs government could be reached to respond to Holt’s comments.
At climate change committee hearings in January, Liberal MLA René Legacy said NB Power should look to other potential SMR suppliers in case ARC and Moltex are not ready in time for 2030.
The company touted the two businesses in St. John, but then-CEO Keith Cronkite told the commission that the company was looking for interruptible fuel sources that could power Belledune after the coal deadline while the SMRs were ready.
NB Power’s board fired Cronkhite in July, saying the Crown corporation needed to adapt more quickly to “massive change” in the energy market, including a shift to renewables.
In January, the Pembina Institute, a clean energy think tank, released a report saying that small nuclear reactors would be more expensive and generate less electricity than a combination of renewable energy and energy efficiency measures.
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