Alberta nuclear power project discussed at Peace River meetings

Residents in Alberta's Peace River country got briefed Monday about a proposed nuclear power plant for the area.

Bruce Power held a series of open houses throughout the region to discuss its application — filed last month with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission — to build a nuclear power plant near Lac Cardinal, about 500 kilometres northwest of Edmonton.

It would be first nuclear reactor in Western Canada.

Meetings were held in the communities of Peace River, Grimshaw, Fairview and Manning.

Bruce Power president Duncan Hawthorne, who chaired the meeting in Peace River attended by about 100 people, told CBC News Monday night the tone of the session was good.

"I think I reassured them a lot here that, frankly, we haven't made the decision to build here," Hawthorne said. "You know we are on an assessment process here which will take many many months. And I think they will feel more reassured that they won't be railroaded into accepting something that they didn't understand."

The regulatory process could take up to three years.

Opponents of the project left the meeting with a lot of unanswered questions, said Brenda Brochu, president of the Peace River Environmental Society. She said she wants to make sure the residents of the area have the best chance possible to be involved in any decision about a nuclear plant in their backyard.

"We've written a letter to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency asking for a joint federal provincial review panel because that would require public hearings," Brochu said.

Northern B.C. mayors concerned

Mayors in northern British Columbia near the Alberta border are also concerned they haven't yet been consulted about the possibility a nuclear power plant could be built so close to their communities.

In Dawson Creek, which is a mere 16 kilometres from the Alberta border, Mayor Calvin Kruk told CBC News he doesn't believe people want nuclear power plants.

"I will not be supportive of a project of this size and scale and proximity to our community," said Kruk.

Nuclear power has long been discussed as a way to cut greenhouse gas emissions from Alberta's oil sands projects, where huge volumes of natural gas are burned to produce power and steam.

Bruce Power operates six reactors in Ontario on Lake Huron and is in the process of restarting two more.

The company said its Alberta reactor could operational as early as 2017, and the plant could eventually have four reactors producing enough power to supply two million homes.