Canada's nuclear energy stance angers, frustrates environmentalists and others, spurs concerns over waste, weapons, and other issues

And some other news....

Susan O’Donnell, an academic and anti-nuclear activist, calls small nuclear reactors a speculative technology at best, and maintains the federal government should concentrate on other renewables such as solar and wind in nuclear’s place.

My latest reporting on energy is the top story today online at Canada's National Observer. While the federal government touts the benefits of small nuclear reactors in fighting the climate crisis, many others fear the risks are too great.

And it’s not just environmental groups objecting either. Three political parties as well as 120 women in leadership roles across Canada have voiced their objections to the federal government’s push favouring small nuclear reactors (SMRs).

From my story: “While the governments tout nuclear as an integral part of any climate crisis solution, alongside solar, wind and other renewables, many environmentalists point out there is one intractable problem no one has been able to solve. Regardless of how small reactors become, they will still produce toxic waste, a deal-killer in many people’s eyes.

“Critics also raise red flags over the possibility that the design of some SMRs will enable terrorists to more easily steal nuclear fuel for weapons. And they point out SMR technology is at least five years away and will land too late to address the growing climate crisis.”

Susan O’Donnell, an academic at the University of New Brunswick and an anti-nuclear activist, has been hard on the file, chasing the Liberal government and nuclear companies over a number of issues.

O’Donnell dismisses SMRs as a speculative technology, and contends that it will take at least a decade to get them off the drawing board — and even longer to find out if they actually work. “We don’t have that kind of time for the climate crisis,” she recently told me in an interview.

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