Calgary-Mountain View Alberta Liberal MLA David Swann has some interesting thoughts on today's Peace River nuclear power plant announcement.
Now, being skeptical about nuclear power is one thing (and another issue that I plan to elaborate further in a future post), but the secrecy surrounding who the plant's largest customer will be is another bizarre story:
Bold plans to bring nuclear power to northern Alberta were unveiled Tuesday, but just exactly who'll be using most of the megawatts remained a mystery even to many in the oilpatch.
It's assumed that Energy Alberta Corp.'s proposed $6.2-billion project to put a Candu twin reactor in the sparsely populated Peace River area in the province's northwestern corner is all about the oilsands, which require an immense amount of energy to squeeze oil from the ground.
The company and its partners said Tuesday that about 70 per cent of the 2,200 megawatts of electricity will be going to "one large, industrial off-taker" but declined to name names.
"At this time we're not going to discuss those arrangements," said Dale Coffin, spokesman for Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which is teaming up with Energy Alberta to build Canada's first new nuclear power in nearly 25 years.
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8 comments:
This has nothing to do with Ed Stelmach, it has to do with Energy Alberta Corp. and Atomic Energy of Canada... neither of which have anything to do with the provincial government. It's lack of transparency on their part.
Contrary to prior belief, just because it has "Alberta" in the name doesn't mean it's associated with the provincial gov't.
Thank you, anonymous commenter.
It doesn't make it any less secretive though.
dave
Oh I'm not saying that it does make it any less secretive, just the secrets aren't Stelmach's secret's, they belong to Henuset et al.
I agree that people deserve to know exactly what's going in their backyard here and where the energy generated will go.
You know, Ralph was talking about nuclear power a few years ago, sort of out of the blue. Or was it?
Check the record, I'd bet he was out softening public opinion before EAC did its polling. Watch for a few others to take the atomic handshake too!
tee hee:
poll.pollcode.com/nM2
pfffff. nuclear.
1) 70% contracted, I don't believe it for a minute - they would need at least 99% firm contracted capacity for the life of the facility in order to get any funding - last time I checked there are not many oil men with $6.2 (ummm a little low) Billion in cash, plus $500 or so million year over year for 25 - 30 years to support the facility.
2) This 6.2B has been pushed around lots... funny how the price keeps going up only to stop here... umm, before any site assessment? I wonder if AECL has take Alberta labour and construction into account?
--- On time, on budget works when you are in third world dictatorship.
Sounds like a pump and dump move. I'm a huge supporter of nuclear, but their numbers don't support this as a private enterprise move - unless a huge payment from the feds is being planned to save AECL from their demise.
... polling is weak on this issue, wait till people ask questions about who picks up the cost of any overruns on the budget...
Fran from SE Alberta says: Nuclear Energy and the pursuit of it was discussed at the Spring 07 PC Convention - they passed a resolution to proceed with "consultations"...so Stelmach has the green light from his Party. There is no way that oil industry and PC suits don't have their fingers in this proposal, which means those politicians who get the bulk of their campaign support (i.e $s) haven't had a briefing or two. Stelmach's "consultation" stuttering and an opinion piece by Waugh in today's Edmonton Sun http://www.edmontonsun.com/Comment/Commentary/2007/09/02/4464583.html will seem disingenuous to many Albertans.
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