Peace River ready to talk nuclear power

Politicians and business officials in a northern Alberta town are meeting Friday to talk about the potential of becoming the home of the province's first nuclear power plant.

Peace River Deputy Mayor Don Good said histown would be an ideal site for a nuclear power plant.

"We have water, we have good infrastructure, we have great people, we have space. We have a lot of things that industry is looking for, including good access to air, road, rail."

Peace River is on the short list of a company that wants to build a nuclear power plant in Alberta to help with the energy demands of the oilsands.

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and Calgary-based Energy Alberta Corp. met with the Tory caucus earlier this month to talk about building a $6.2-billion reactor in north-central Alberta.

Finding a host community is one of the first steps on the road to regulator approval.

Energy Alberta Corp. recently flew Whitecourt Mayor Trevor Thain and a number of area councillors to New Brunswick to tour a reactor.

Peace River is the only other community that's expressed an interested in the project. Energy Alberta officials will be flying representatives fromthe townout east at the end of the month.

Don Leikam, a Peace River barber, decided to start surveying his customers on the issue of nuclear power last week. The results so far have been overwhelmingly in favour, he said.

"They're very open to new growth, new ideas, a new source of power. To be honest with you, we all know that there's a shortage of power here in Alberta," Leikam said.