Manitoba should consider nuclear power: Pinawa mayor

The mayor of a small Manitoba town has put together a working group to come up with a proposal to bring nuclear power generation to the province.

Blair Skinner, mayor of Pinawa, Man. home to a decommissioned atomic laboratory says the province should consider nuclear technology as a way to buildcapacity to generate electricity for domestic use and for export.

The cost to build a nuclear reactor would be in the$6 billionrange comparable to what current hydro projects are expected to cost, Skinner said.

"We believe, from the numbers we've been provided, that cost to produce nuclear power is comparable to new hydro power production, and it should therefore be considered.

"The cost I was given for the operating cost for the nuclear reactor included full capital costs to build and it included the cost of waste disposal, and the decommissioning cost of the site itself at end of lifeThe only thing it didn't include was transmission and distribution," he said.

Nuclear power is more environmentally friendly than building new hydroelectric plants, he said, pointing out that in its generation, rivers aren't dammed, less land is destroyed, and fewer greenhouse gas emissions are created.

The power is also safe, Skinner said, dismissing concerns about waste disposal and the potential for nuclear accidents.

"There is risk in any activity that is undertaken, and there is some risk in the nuclear industry, of course," he said.

"But I would argue that there are thousands of people killed in North America every year in car accidents, there are hundreds of people killed in mining accidents every year, airplanes crash, and yet we still continue all of those activities, so you have to put it in perspective."

The CEO of Manitoba Hydro, Bob Brennan, told CBC News he believes hydroelectric power is currently a better short-term solution, but said he is open to other options and will take a close look at any formal proposals brought forward for nuclear energy.

Pinawa is the site of Atomic Energy of Canada's Whiteshell laboratories, once the largest nuclear research facility in Western Canada. Established in 1963, the AECL lab employed nearly 1,300 people at its peak, but research graduallydwindled and the lab was closedin the mid-1990s.

Eighteen nuclear power plantsoperatein Canada, while four are undergoing refurbishment, according to Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. These 22 plants supply approximately 16 per cent of Canada's electricity needs, AECL says.