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New Brunswick should have second nuclear reactor: energy minister

POINT LEPREAU, N.B. — New Brunswick’s energy minister says he’d like to see another nuclear reactor built in the Maritime province.
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Advanced Reactor Concepts announced it will commit $5 million to research in New Brunswick. It wants to build small, 100-megawatt reactors that it describes as inherently safe. The Point Lepreau nuclear power plant in Point Lepreau, N.B., is seen on Monday, July 9, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kevin Bissett

POINT LEPREAU, N.B. — New Brunswick’s energy minister says he’d like to see another nuclear reactor built in the Maritime province.

Rick Doucet says the development of small modular reactors could present a significant economic and export opportunity.

Advanced Reactor Concepts — a U.S.-based company — announced today it will commit $5 million to operations and research in New Brunswick.

The company wants to build small, 100-megawatt reactors that it describes as inherently safe.

A prototype operated for 30 years in the United States but the technology was never developed.

NB Power president Gaetan Thomas says such reactors can be cost efficient and complement renewable power sources.

The New Brunswick government recently announced it will spend $10 million to create a nuclear research cluster.

New Brunswick’s 660-megawatt Candu reactor at Point Lepreau is the only nuclear power plant in Atlantic Canada.