Saskatchewan's nuclear future

David Ebner, November 21, 2007, Globe and Mail -- Nuclear power chatter in Western Canada has been mostly limited to Alberta, with its burgeoning oil sands and the massive electricity demands there - but the home of the region's first reactor, if it occurs, may in fact be in Saskatchewan.

One big reason is that Saskatchewan is the world's No. 1 producer of uranium. Another is that it is closer to major electricity markets in the Midwestern United States for export of power.

Brad Wall, Saskatchewan's recently elected premier and leader of the conservative Saskatchewan Party, said in May that his government would provide incentives to push uranium refining and a possible nuclear power plant in the province, doing the so-called value-added work in Saskatchewan rather than shipping away raw resources.

On Wednesday, Hal Kvisle, CEO of TransCanada Corp., said nuclear in Saskatchewan makes sense. In an interview after a morning of presentations to analysts and investors, Mr. Kvisle said he met with Mr. Wall before he became premier and hopes to meet with him again soon.

"We think Saskatchewan ought to look at nuclear," Mr. Kvisle said.

TransCanada is already a large producer of nuclear power in Ontario, generating 4,700 megawatts at Bruce Power northwest of Toronto, with another 1,500 MW to be added. In 2006, Bruce Power supplied almost 25 per cent of Ontario's electricity.

TransCanada is also interested in nuclear power in Alberta - including a slide on the topic in one of its presentations in Toronto Wednesday morning - but Mr. Kvisle noted that such a project is at least a decade from reality, given the many challenges, such as regulatory approval, construction, etc.

His company has, however, scoped out potential sites for a reactor in Alberta.

Another firm, the upstart Energy Alberta Corp., is a partner with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., looking to build a reactor in Alberta. In September, Energy Alberta filed a preliminary application with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for a facility to be located near Peace River in northwestern Alberta.