More nuclear reactors (SMRs) for New Brunswick? [video]

The province and NB Power are promoting two more nuclear reactors (SMRs), to be built next to the existing reactor at Point Lepreau on the Bay of Fundy.

On Jan. 14, the New Brunswick Environmental Network (NBEN) invited me to share information about the proposed nuclear reactors during their online workshop. The workshop featured the NBEN Risks and Benefits Calculator and allowed participants to make up their own minds about the proposed reactors.

The workshop was co-hosted by the NB Media Co-op and the RAVEN project that I lead at the University of New Brunswick. RAVEN (Rural Action and Voices for the Environment) supports rural and environmental media and activism.

In the 31-minute video below, I give an overview of the proposed nuclear reactors, their links to climate action, the financial risks involved, and radioactive waste.

In particular, I challenge the claim made by NB Power and the government that one of the nuclear reactors will “recycle” the existing deadly (high-level) radioactive waste that Lepreau is making.

Coincidentally, the morning after my presentation, the CBC published an interview with one of the experts on nuclear waste that I cited. The CBC article challenges the “recycling” claim, explaining there is no scientific proof it will work.

Watch the video of my presentation:

Susan O’Donnell is the lead investigator of the RAVEN project at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton.