Small modular reactors too risky, but consider another ‘large-scale’ nuclear plant: NB Power review

A newly published review of NB Power suggests that the provincial government should consider planning for another “large scale” nuclear plant alongside the current one at Point Lepreau, but it doesn’t recommend any further pursuit of small modular reactors.

The report, which only mentions SMRs once in passing, could be the last nail in the coffin for the controversial technology in New Brunswick.

Since 2018, the provincial and federal governments have spent close to $130 million on SMR technology in New Brunswick, but the reactors under development by Moltex and ARC have faced delays.

In October, Energy Minister René Legacy indicated that the province would no longer wait for those companies, though he said New Brunswick might be interested in SMRs built in Ontario.

At a news conference on Monday, the NB Media Co-op asked members of the review panel why they aren’t recommending SMRs. “We don’t think it’s appropriate for NB Power to be playing in a first-of-a-kind world,” said Duncan Hawthorne, who was president of Bruce Power in Ontario for 16 years.

“It carries with it a whole set of risks that you wouldn’t anticipate, that they wouldn’t want to take upon themselves,” he said, adding that “tried and tested technology has been the way to go.”

Anne Bertrand, who formerly served as a director of NB Power, said the utility shouldn’t be treated as an engine of economic development, an apparent reference to hopes that New Brunswick would eventually be able to export SMR technology.

The report contains 50 recommendations, and while none of them deal with SMRs, several address nuclear power and the troubled Point Lepreau facility.

Notably, it recommends that the nuclear generating station should be “operationally separated” from NB Power to create a new entity, Point Lepreau Nuclear, which would have “its own governance arrangement specifically focussed on nuclear plant performance.”

The report also recommends that the provincial government should “consider initiating the planning assessment phase for an additional large scale, proven technology nuclear plant to be sited alongside the Point Lepreau facility.”

Legacy, the energy minister, said in a statement that the Department of Energy will “act on these recommendations in a timely and transparent way” and will announce its next steps by the end of May.

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op based in Moncton. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, via the Local Journalism Initiative.

Correction: A previous version of this story stated that the Department of Energy plans to announce its next steps by May. In fact, it plans to announce its plans by the end of May. This article was updated at 8 p.m. on April 1, 2026.