nuclear-news

Alberta Revives Its Nuclear Energy Dreams.

And a cabinet minister gets a free trip for ‘Canada-UK Nuclear Day’ in London.

TheTyee, David Climenhaga 28 Aug 2025

Alberta Affordability Minister Nathan Neudorf jetted off Wednesday for a nice 10-day holiday in the United Kingdom — mostly at his own expense.

Not entirely at his own expense, though, since Alberta taxpayers will presumably be picking up the tab for his airfare in his other cabinet role as minister of utilities (with the exception, this being Alberta, of utilities that generate electricity of the renewable sort).

That ministerial job got him a nice invite to the World Nuclear Symposium in London and a corking “Canada-U.K. Nuclear Day” party on Wednesday at Canada House.

If you’re thinking you probably couldn’t afford a vacation like that, it’s nice to know the minister of making sure you can afford stuff (how’s that going, anyway?) will have the opportunity to “explore nuclear energy in London,” as the Alberta government’s news release put it Wednesday, with well-heeled nuclear industry lobbyists, CEOs and the like from all over the world.

In all, the MLA for Lethbridge-East (and perhaps soon to be the MLA for the new riding of Lethbridge-Gerrymander) will get to spend 15 days in Blighty, at least five of them in a very nice hotel, I’m sure.

“Alberta’s government is working hard to secure an affordable, reliable and sustainable energy future and nuclear can play a key role,” Neudorf said in the inevitable canned quote in the government’s news release Wednesday. “Gatherings like this one are an excellent opportunity to connect with international partners and I look forward to learning more about the potential of this technology and how it can fit into Alberta’s energy mix.”

I’ll bet. There’s nothing cheap about nuclear power. Even the so-called “small modular reactors” that the United Conservative Party is so enamoured of are multibillion-dollar megaprojects, and they never come in on budget. Indeed, SMRs may be nuclear reactors, but they’re not small and they’re not really modular. The term is a marketing gimmick.

“Nuclear projects are almost always subject to time and cost overruns,” explained the Calgary-based Pembina Institute in a news release this week, “with some being delayed by up to a decade and costing double the original projected amount.”

If you want cheap and reliable energy, as the Pembina news release rather plaintively pointed out, wind, solar and battery storage would be just the ticket. Those are things that Neudorf and the United Conservative Party aren’t about to consider, though, probably because of the turbines that spoiled the view at Donald Trump’s golf course in Scotland.

Nevertheless, tout le monde nuclear energy will be in London — even a senior official of Rosatom, the Russian state atomic energy corporation. (That said, you have to dig a bit to suss out the Rosatom connection.)

Meanwhile, the Alberta government wants to hear what you think about nuclear power — presumably as long as it’s the same as what they think. Otherwise, get lost!

Premier Danielle Smith struck yet another panel Monday, this one to sell Albertans on the idea of adopting nuclear power — pardon me, “to join the conversation on nuclear energy in the province.”

There’s even a survey — and I can tell you it’s not quite as obviously biased as the “Alberta Next” surveys, although I’d say it’s been designed to help suss out voter concerns so that talking points can be drafted quickly to tell you to have no fear for atomic energy……………………………………

If you worry about this stuff, nothing’s going to happen any time soon except more lobbying and conferences in interesting locales for UCP ministers to attend.

A small modular reactor project has never been successfully completed outside of China and Russia. Indeed, some say Rosatom’s Akademik Lomonosov, dubbed by some the “floating Chernobyl,” may be the world’s only working small modular reactor…..https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2025/08/28/Alberta-Revives-Nuclear-Energy-Dreams/

August 31, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, spinbuster