FREDERICTON - Dec 24 - Canadian Press

New Brunswick is hoping to become a significant player in the energy game of the future, but critics say it's playing the wrong card.

A feasibility report is expected early in the new year that likely will clear the way for construction of a second, massive nuclear reactor at Point Lepreau on the Bay of Fundy in southern New Brunswick.

Enthusiastic politicians and promoters believe the proposed project - the world's first 1,100-megawatt Advanced Candu Reactor-1000 - would position the Maritime province at the forefront of a global nuclear renaissance and allow it to capitalize on a growing U.S. appetite for clean power.

"New England knows where we are now and what we have to offer," says New Brunswick Energy Minister Jack Keir, referring to the province's marketing efforts in the northeastern United States.

"They're starting to sit up and take notice."

The $2.5 million feasibility study on the Candu reactor is being carried out by the Canadian nuclear industry - a fact that has raised more than a few eyebrows.

Along with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and SNC-Lavalin Nuclear, the Team Candu New Brunswick includes such key nuclear players as Babcock & Wilcox Canada, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy Canada Inc., and Hitachi Canada Ltd.

The study must demonstrate a solid business case for a second reactor, which would be used to produce power for the United States, not the domestic market.

It would be located next to the existing 630-megawatt facility at Point Lepreau - the only nuclear generating station in Atlantic Canada.

Projected opening date for the reactor would be 2017.

New Brunswick is not the only province looking at building new nuclear reactors.

Ontario's 20-year electricity plan includes the construction of at least two new nuclear stations and Alberta is debating whether it wants to become the first Western province with nuclear power.

Earlier this year, 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 gets regulatory approval and the company raises the necessary capital, the plant could be running in 10 years and could provide up to 20 per cent of Alberta's electricity needs.

The last nuclear plant built in Canada was Ontario Hydro's Darlington station, east of Toronto, which was completed in 1993.

Critics say New Brunswick's approach to the multi-billion-dollar project is making it the butt of jokes.

"My dad is fond of saying that if you go to a carpenter, he'll tell you to make it out of wood. If you go to a carpenter who has a warehouse full of wood, he'll tell you to make it out of his wood," says Norm Reuben of Energy Probe, a Toronto-based consumer and environmental research group.

"If you ask AECL to do a feasibility study on whether it makes sense to build an AECL reactor, well, don't be too shocked by the answer. ... New Brunswick is getting a reputation as a laughing stock. I mean, most Third World countries have figured this out already and they don't ask interested parties to do feasibility studies anymore. It's too obvious a scam."

But New Brunswick officials see nothing wrong with the set up.

They like the idea that the province isn't risking anything on a possible second reactor - not even a $2.5 million study.

Provincial officials describe the project as "private-sector driven."

It fits nicely with Premier Shawn Graham's vision of New Brunswick as an energy hub, taking advantage of its location on the Canada-U.S. border to wheel power into the New England states.

"The companies involved are not going to put together a feasibility study that tries to hoodwink New Brunswickers by saying, 'Yeah let's just go and do this,' because it's going to be their money in the game," Keir says.

"This study is more important to them than it is to us because it's going to be their investment that will be required."

However, it's likely the New Brunswick government would become financially involved in underwriting risk for the project, if it is shown to be a worthwhile investment.

Environmentalists contend the province is betting on dinosaur technology.

They say nuclear has had its day and the future of energy is small, decentralized and community based.

"Large, centralized power plants are not sustainable," says David Coon of the New Brunswick Conservation Council, a non-profit environmental organization.

"They're dependent on importing expensive fuel from outside the province and creating either large amounts of emissions or dangerous amounts of radioactive waste. They are not the future."

Coon says renewable technologies are coming on fast and will be desirable alternatives much sooner than most politicians are willing to admit.

Solar, wind, wood pellets and hydrogen fuel cells, he says, are opening the door to much smaller centres of power production, rather than large, traditional power plants.

"People are far ahead of politicians on this," he says.

"I think people see that we have to start looking at how we address the environmental crisis and build up our local economies at the same time. The focus has to go from globalization to localization in New Brunswick's context if we are to have much of a future."

But there may be no stopping the nuclear juggernaut in New Brunswick.

Officials say the region is still at least 20 years away from being able to meet baseload demands through renewable technology.

As well, the New Brunswick government would find it very hard to resist the prospect of thousands of construction jobs and the creation of centres of excellence for the nuclear industry.

Patrick Lamarre, president and chief executive officer of SNC-Lavalin Nuclear Inc., says Team Candu New Brunswick is receiving positive feedback to the reactor proposal from potential New England clients, partly because utilities in that region know a nuclear power plant would be a very hard sell with the public.

"There is a bit of the 'not in my backyard' attitude in New England, which is positive for us," says Lamarre.

Some facts on nuclear generation in New Brunswick:

-630-megawatt Candu reactor at Point Lepreau is the only nuclear generating station in Atlantic Canada. It generates up to 25 per cent of New Brunswick's power.

-Proposed second reactor would be the world's first 1,100-megawatt, Advanced Candu Reactor-1000, capable of producing 1,200 megawatts of electricity.

-It would be located next to existing reactor at Point Lepreau, with estimated start-up date of 2017.

-Electricity from a second reactor would be for export to the New England market. Energy experts forecast energy shortfall in that region of between 4,300 and 6,400 megawatts by 2015-18 and as high as 8,000 megawatts by 2020-25.

-A second reactor project would create 4,000 jobs during the construction phase and 500 permanent jobs during operation.

-Opponents argue nuclear is outdated and expensive technology. They say decentralized, community-oriented generation through such renewable sources as solar, wind and fuel cells is the future.

-Currently, 18 reactors in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick provide about 15 per cent of Canada's power supply.