Author: CREDNB

Today the environmental organization New Clear Free Solutions asked for a review of its model to transform NB Power to a renewable energy utility in a way that will keep electricity rates low and achieve its required equity goals. The request is supported by the Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick (CRED-NB). 

On July 4, the NB Power board fired its CEO and engaged PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Canada to perform a strategic review to transform the utility. The letter sent today to the NB Power board Chair Charles V. Firlotte requested a meeting between New Clear Solutions founder Chris Rouse and the team conducting the strategic review at PwC Canada.  

Chris Rouse, with more than 25 years’ experience in industrial systems engineering, has been an intervener in three of the last four NB Power rate hearings. He developed an alternative Integrated Resource Plan for NB Power with the following elements: 

-Achieves a 95% renewable energy mix by 2040 or sooner 

-Maintains low and stable rates 

-Achieves NB Power equity targets in the near term, and pays down NB Power debt and makes NB Power very profitable in the longer term 

-Creates significant economic activity and jobs 

“For successive years NB Power management teams has ignored alternative plans to make public investments in renewable energy. The firing of the CEO and engagement of PwC is an opportunity for transformative change to develop a public electricity utility that New Brunswickers need,” said Rouse.   

The model proposed by New Clear Free Solutions has been validated by NB Power, which included the model as an appendix in its 2017 IRP but they never implemented it. “This is in spite of their own review of the modeling performed by NB Power System Planning Engineer Darren Clark who stated at a rate hearing “We reviewed Mr. Rouse’s model and functionally I believe the majority of what he is setting out to do, the model is accomplishing.” 

The letter to NB Power states that NB Power has two main ways to achieve the transformational economic and environmental goals the board is looking for. The first is large rate increases which would be “unpopular” considering inflationary pressures already on New Brunswickers. The second option, which this plan promotes, is an equity injection from our carbon tax revenue into NB Power, to invest in renewables and efficiency in lieu of rate increases. This is already possible under current legislation, and a great way to give the carbon tax back to New Brunswickers to help curb inflation. 

The letter states that ”Using the carbon tax revenue to make investments in renewables and efficiency not only enables NB Power to meet its equity target without significant rate increases, but also reduces fuel and purchased power cost that will give NB Power more free cash flow to reinvest. This reinvestment will compound like compound interest and will exponentially transition the electricity grid to 95% renewable, achieve equity targets and make NB Power very profitable.”  

The Coalition for Responsible Energy Development (CRED-NB) speaks for more than 20 groups and 120 individuals in the province advocating for a nuclear-free renewable energy future endorsed the meeting request. Representative Susan O’Donnell stated “CRED-NB is interested to see a third-party review of how this plan for NB Power can support a sustainable energy future for all New Brunswickers.” 

The letter to NB Power is available on the New Clear Free Solutions website, HERE. 

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For more information: 

Chris Rouse  

506-650-0007 

 chris_r_31@hotmail.com 

An article by Harrison Dressler in the NB Media Co-op analyzes corporate media coverage of nuclear issues. Dressler found that:

“Stories that offered a positive outlook on small modular reactors were published far more frequently than stories critical of the technology. In the former case, Indigenous sources were almost always absent. Indeed, a pro-SMNR coalition (comprised of actors drawn from the nuclear industry and government) included only three Indigenous sources in their 13 published articles on the topic, all of which favored the adoption of small modular reactors.”

Read the story HERE.

The Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick (CRED-NB) has sent a formal request to federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault to order an impact assessment for a project which could have profound and lasting impacts on the Bay of Fundy and the coastal communities and marine life it supports.

For more information about why an impact assessment is required, including letters of support from Indigenous groups and civil society groups in New Brunswick and across Canada, read the formal CRED-NB request to federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, HERE. (French version HERE.)

To send a letter to Minister Guilbeault supporting the CRED-NB request, use our action tool, HERE. We’re working in collaboration with the Ontario Clean Air Alliance to gather support across Canada.

The nuclear industry plans to build experimental nuclear reactors, so-called “small modular nuclear reactors” (SMRs) in New Brunswick, with the aim that one day they can be used in different towns and remote communities across Canada.

Pressure from the nuclear industry lobby changed our federal environmental assessment law in 2019, exempting many nuclear projects like SMRs from undergoing a full environmental impact assessment (IA). 

CRED-NB is challenging the exemption for the “SMR Demonstration Project” planned for Point Lepreau on the Bay of Fundy, asking the federal government to step in and order the project undergo a full IA under the Impact Assessment Act.

“As a first of its kind experimental nuclear project, on the traditional territory of the Peskotomuhkati Nation, which opposes the project, with ramifications for the rights of the Wolastoqey and Mi’gmaq Nations, and located in a beautiful, coastal rural region with locally important fishing, tourism and wild blueberry industries, the SMR Demonstration Project ought to attract the most rigorous form of public engagement and planning,” said Gail Wylie, CRED-NB chair.

“The exemption not only erodes public involvement and oversight of the project but also means that there will be no full reckoning of the alternatives to the energy project and its impacts to social, economic, Indigenous and environmental values,” added Ann McAllister, spokesperson for CRED-NB.

Opponents argue that the SMRs do not need an IA, since they have to get a licence from the nuclear regulator, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. This profoundly misses the mark! A nuclear licence is a regulatory proceeding – it does not account for the “big picture” or whether the project has a social licence to operate. 

“There is a pressing need to designate this project for an IA. Impact assessment promotes a ‘look before you leap’ approach to decision-making so that independent reviews of risk and harm, alternatives to the project, the purpose of the project and impacts on social, economic, Indigenous and environmental values can be duly evaluated,” said Kerrie Blaise, legal counsel for the Canadian Environmental Law Association. CELA was among the groups endorsing the designation request to the Minister sent today.

CRED-NB is asking people across Canada to support the campaign. This is not just a New Brunswick issue. If successful, these SMRs could be deployed in hundreds of communities across the country. Their wastes will be added to our existing stockpiles for which no solution currently exists.

Nuclear waste remains the elephant in the room at all nuclear industry events: nobody wants to talk about the toxic radioactive materials created during and after the generation of nuclear power.

Read the latest commentary by Kim Reeder in the NB Media Co-op, HERE.

Coalition for Responsible Energy Development – New Brunswick (CRED-NB)

Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA)

For immediate release – June 22, 2022

Public trust in nuclear regulator eroded: CNSC grants 10-year licence to operate nuclear reactor on the Bay of Fundy

ROTHESAY, NB – The Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick (CRED-NB) and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA) say trust in Canada’s nuclear regulator is further eroded after news today that the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) granted NB Power a 10-year licence to operate its Point Lepreau nuclear reactor.

The current 5-year licence expired at the end of June. During the life of the nuclear plant, the average licence length was less than 3 years. 

CRED-NB and CELA believe that a longer licence period is a blatant attempt to reduce community engagement and involvement, and that shorter licences and more frequent hearings responsive to the nuclear operations would have better served the public interest.

The need for frequent licensing hearings, including a statutory public right to be heard, was at the crux of the oral submission by CELA and CRED-NB in May at the CNSC hearings to hear arguments about NB Power’s licence request.

The CNSC announcement came just one day after National Indigenous Peoples Day. At the May hearings, Indigenous groups in New Brunswick said a longer licence period disrespects the rights of Indigenous people to care for the land in their unceded territory, by extending the nuclear operations and the production of toxic nuclear waste on the site.

The 10-licence renewal period more than triples the average licence length and time between public hearings on Lepreau’s operation. This longer licence period leaves unaddressed many concerns raised by our joint written intervention and our presentation at the May CNSC hearings in Saint John.

The 10-year period is, however, more appropriate than the 25 years requested by NB Power or the 20 years recommended by the initial CNSC staff report. We are aware of one precedent set by the 10-year licence renewal for Pickering nuclear plant in August 2018.

However, the events of the past 25 years – including the recent military attack on a nuclear plant in the Ukraine and the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011 – demonstrate that our understanding of the dangers of nuclear power plants and the substantial risk they pose to human health, safety and the environment are continuously evolving. 

The public is also concerned about NB Power’s plans to build two types of experimental “small modular nuclear reactors” (SMRs) on the Lepreau site within the next 10 years.

“This longer license ignores that SMRs could present new risks, and does not commit NB Power to a new public hearing to maintain its license as these new risks are added to the site”, said Gail Wylie, spokesperson for CRED-NB.

CELA counsel Kerrie Blaise said that shorter licence terms and more regular licencing hearings do not remove this risk, but they do allow for the “compulsory re-evaluation of these risks stemming from continued nuclear plant operations.”

The CNSC states it will hold a mid-point meeting no later than 2027, when a comprehensive update will be provided and public comment will be invited. CRED-NB and CELA remain of the view that a meeting is a discretionary process and is not a stand-in for a public hearing. We believe this 2027 meeting should adhere to the same procedural and regulatory requirements as a public hearing licensing process. In this format the CNSC can opine on whether to suspend or amend the licence. 

CRED-NB and CELA continue to uphold the democratic importance of regular licence hearings, as a credible venue for public scrutiny and active public engagement in nuclear oversight.

In turn, this engagement can build public trust in NB Power’s operations at the Lepreau nuclear facility and build commitment of staff and management to honour that public trust.

The comprehensive CRED-NB/CELA written intervention to the Lepreau licence hearing is available HERE.

The CNSC Summary Record of Decision on June 22 is available HERE.

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For further information:

Gail Wylie, spokesperson, CRED-NB

506-454-3181

wylie1@nb.sympatico.ca

Kerrie Blaise, Canadian Environmental Law Association

416-960-2284 ext 7224

kerrie@cela.ca

CRED-NB: What we stand for

Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick
PO Box 4561 • Rothesay, NB E2E 5X3

Chief Hugh Akagi is interviewed in this new article by Harrison Dressler published by the NB Media Co-op, HERE.

A quote from the Chief about the recent CNSC hearing: “Historically, “they have bought compliance. We almost never hear words like justice in that room because that’s not part of the agenda. It’s so easy for them, with all their money, all their authority, all their manpower, to minimize us and to destroy us. It’s not like the good old days, where if you wanted to solve the Indian problem, you solved the Indian problem. Today, they’ve got to look like they’re actually supporting the Indian while they’re solving the Indian problem.”

The recent re-licencing hearing for New Brunswick’s Point Lepreau nuclear reactor highlighted the difficulty and cost of managing the province’s long-lived legacy of radioactive waste.

During the re-licencing hearing for Point Lepreau, a main focus of the Peskotomuhkati Nation’s intervention reflected their concerns about the lack of adequate planning for the toxic decommissioning waste.

Read the article by Kim Reeder and Susan O’Donnell in the NB Media Co-op, HERE.

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research this week began its study of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). The committee’s study page is HERE.

The first day of witness testimony was on June 2. The webcast recording is on the website along with the list of witnesses on that date, which included the VP Nuclear of NB Power.

On June 9, CRED-NB’s Susan O’Donnell will be a witness for the study. The webcast will be live on the link above at 7:30 Atlantic time. Susan is in the first one-hour time slot. CRED-NB friend Gordon Edwards will be presenting in the second hour. The meeting runs for three hours.

The David Suzuki Foundation released a report demonstrating that net-zero by 2035 is possible without nuclear energy or carbon capture technology. The Energy Mix has the story, HERE.

The report download page is HERE.

Now we need a similar report for New Brunswick but our public utility NB Power is sleepwalking in a nuclear dream and pushing for more, not less, nuclear energy. If you’re interested to engage with CRED-NB on a nuclear-free renewable energy future, contact us: info@crednb.ca

by Gail Wylie, lead for the CRED-NB intervention to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC)

So now we wait… Will the Lepreau nuclear reactor licence renewal be for 5 years (same as current), 10 years (one precedent recently), 20 years (recommended by CNSC staff), or 25 years (requested by NB Power?) The current licence ends June 30, so a decision is expected soon.

This is a brief report ‘window’ on my experience attending the CNSC hearings for NB Power’s application for a 25-year renewal of its licence to operate the Point Lepreau nuclear reactor. The hearings were held May 10 to 12 in Saint John.

One aspect highlighted was the faulty process for the hearings – i.e., not adequate provisions to operate as a true ‘Tribunal.’ A key missing element: no provision for the intervenors to cross-examine the proponent (NB Power) or CNSC staff specialists.

An example that highlights this problem was the discussion of the Lepreau reactor’s ‘ingestion planning zone,’ the area where farmers should know that if a serious radiological event occurs at the reactor, they need to shelter their animals, not feed them local fodder exposed to radiation, and not sell produce in the exposed area. 

The joint written (60 page) and oral (10 minute) intervention from CRED-NB and the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), included the recommendation that the designated ingestion planning zone follow the guidance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that sets standards for nuclear operations worldwide. 

For a reactor with Lepreau’s level of megawatts thermal, the IAEA recommends an ingestion planning zone of 300 km radius around the reactor. This would include half of PEI, two thirds of Nova Scotia, all of New Brunswick and a significant portion of Maine. NB Power, however, has set the ingestion planning zone at only 57 km.

When a Commissioner queried this discrepancy, NB Power stated that the IAEA recommendation was meant for only ‘light water’ reactors, and that operators of other kinds of reactors like the Lepreau CANDU heavy water reactor are to develop their own zone analysis. The Commissioner did not follow up, and our team had no opportunity to ask what methodology was used to determine the 57 km designated zone or to question where this IAEA guidance on variation was suggested. 

We later consulted an independent nuclear expert, who confirmed that the IAEA guidance of 300 km was appropriate also for Lepreau, as the amount of radioactivity is based on the megawatts thermal level, not the type of cooling system.

There was an imbalance in the oral versus written interventions. Of all the written interventions, 143 were against the 25-year licence and less than 100 in support. Everyone who submitted a written document had the option of also making an oral presentation. Of those, 31 were in support versus nine against, many supporters being out of province nuclear operators and organizations with the staff, resources and experience to travel to Saint John to make an oral presentation. 

Many of the industry-related organizations began their presentations with the myth: ‘there is no path to net zero without nuclear.’ Given the flawed process not allowing cross examination, we or other intervenors could not challenge these statements, and the Commissioners chose not to question them. 

Another imbalance existed between comprehensive versus simple oral interventions, all allotted the same 10 minutes speaking time. Our CRED-CELA joint written intervention was professionally researched and reviewed, a 60-page document with 40 recommendations.

Our CELA partner, lawyer Kerrie Blaise, presented her well-prepared script and slide deck highlighting key issues and packing in as much as humanly possible to the 10 minutes! One positive compensation, the Commissioners had obviously read all 60 pages and asked many questions from that content.

The Commissioners came from diverse backgrounds: a lawyer and former Chief of Saugeen First Nation who asked many in-depth questions, a Métis businessman from Thunder Bay asking the more technical and engineering questions, and a medical doctor from Winnipeg who pursued more health issues. The Chair, Rumina Velshi, moved to the CNSC in 2018 from Ontario Power Generation, the public utility that currently has eight nuclear power reactors operating in that province. Her role at OPG involved promoting small modular nuclear reactors.

The video recording of the 3-day hearing is not yet available. The links to the transcripts are below. CRED-CELA presented after lunch on May 11.

May 10:  Canadian Nuclear (nuclearsafety.gc.ca)

May 11:  Transcript of May 11, 2022 Public Hearing (nuclearsafety.gc.ca)

May 12:  Transcript of May 12, 2022 Public Hearing (nuclearsafety.gc.ca)

The CRED-NB website has a blog from each hearing day co-written by CELA and CRED. The May 12 blog, HERE, includes a photo of CRED members and collaborators taken at the end of an exhausting, very intense three-day event. Somehow, we are still smiling – maybe just with relief. (The youngest one is the CELA lawyer, Kerrie Blaise from North Bay, Ontario).