Vancouver, Canada - The British Parliament is expected to pass an Energy Bill next week that will give the green-light to several new nuclear power plants, adding Britain to a long list of nations that includes U.S. and Canada looking to nuclear power not only to meet soaring energy requirements, but also as a way to reduce GHG emissions.  Despite the environmental concerns involved, the international revival of nuclear energy is well underway. And for Canada, home to some of the richest uranium deposits in the world, this revival could be a great economic opportunity.

Britain currently has 16 nuclear power plants (9 active, 7 shut down) and the Energy Bill to be brought before parliament next week is the first step in building 25 to 30 more plants by 2030.

Although nuclear power carries major safety and waste disposal concerns, not to mention vocal public opposition, Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown is saying openly what many countries believe, that the expansion of nuclear power capacity is necessary to counter dwindling supplies of fossil fuels and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Worldwide, more than 30 new nuclear plants are already under construction.  Two hundred others are in various stages of planning, including 49 in the United States, where the last new plant was approved in 1979 prior to the Three Mile Island nuclear incident.

American utilities are so sure of the nuclear revival, they are moving forward in the design of the next generation of nuclear reactors even before receiving government approval to build them.

As noted in a recent Washington Post article, the US Nuclear Energy Commission expects to process applications to build as many as 32 new U.S. reactors as utilities and independent electricity generating companies rush to take advantage of generous federal tax incentives, streamlined application procedures and the surge in concern about greenhouse gas emissions from coal, oil and natural gas.

Few countries are as supportive of the nuclear industry as the United States, where the Energy Policy Act of 2005 provides as much as $125 million in annual tax credits for a nuclear plant, plus loan guarantees that cover as much as 80 percent of construction costs. The US government even provides insurance for application costs, protecting companies against the possibility that they would be unable to finance a nuclear project due to regulatory obstacles.

For developing nations, such as China - projected to be the largest greenhouse gas emitter by 2030, nuclear energy is a compelling, emission-free, cost competitive energy option.  There are currently five plants under construction in China, six in India, seven in Russia, two in Bulgaria and one each in Iran and Pakistan.

By March of 2008, China will begin construction of the world’s first 3^rd generation reactor, employing technology that is 30% more efficient than previous reactors.  Currently China has 11 nuclear generating units in operation and will have an installed nuclear power capacity of 40 million kilowatts by 2020, accounting for four percent of the country’s total energy needs.

The re-emergence of nuclear energy could be of great economic importance to Canada which has its own plans to develop new nuclear power plants.  The last nuclear plant built in Canada was Ontario Hydro’s Darlington facility, completed in 1993.

Ontario’s 20-year electricity plan includes the construction of at least two new nuclear plants and Alberta is debating whether it wants to become the first Western province with nuclear power. In 2007, Calgary-based Energy Alberta Corp. announced it had selected a site near Peace River as the home for a $6.2-billion, 2,200-megawatt Candu twin reactor.  If it receives regulatory approval and can raise the necessary capital, the plant could be running in 10 years and could provide up to 20 per cent of Alberta’s electricity needs. New Brunswick also has a third generation nuclear power plant in development, and is hoping to become the East Coast leader in nuclear energy.

Where Canada stands to gain the most is the export of uranium.  Just six years ago the spot price of a pound of processed uranium ore, or yellowcake, was less than $10. Today it stands at more than $130 a pound and some analysts see it going even higher.

Twenty-five percent of the world’s 434 nuclear power plants already get their uranium from ore mined in Canada, primarily from Saskatchewan. The province is so rich in the mineral it has been dubbed the "Saudi Arabia" of Uranium.

There are other benefits to the nuclear revival, including new high technology jobs. A single reactor employs about 500 people, including 350 technicians for operations and maintenance, 110 chemical, mechanical, and civil engineers, and 40 nuclear engineers. The major bottleneck is the availability of skilled human resources.  Due to the lapse in new nuclear power capacity in North American and Europe throughout the 1970s and 1980s, there is now a world wide shortage of experts and professionals in the field. This bottleneck, coupled with the estimated three year approval period and public opposition for each plant, could slow the re-emergence of nuclear power.  For instance, Britain does not expect to be building any of its proposed nuclear power facilities until 2020.

There are many other concerns and challenges associated with the nuclear revival, including the relatively high capital costs of new plants, the sustainable management of used nuclear fuel, and the risks of proliferation of weapons-grade plutonium from the nuclear power fuel cycle.

GLOBE-Net will be looking deeper at the associated environmental and economic issues of the nuclear revival in future articles.  As well, the nuclear revival will be a topic of discussion at GLOBE 2008, Canada’s pre-eminent Conference and Trade Show on the business of the environment in March 2008 in Vancouver.

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For More Information: CNN