Tag: Other Org Action

The nuclear divide: Why are women cautious of nuclear energy?

Commentary by Emma Fackenthall in the NB Media Co-op

As many countries scramble toward a net-zero future, some are betting on nuclear energy to reach their goal. However, a quiet but profound gender divide is growing around nuclear energy. 

While nuclear power is often hailed as a critical tool in the climate fight, a growing body of research suggests that fewer women than men support nuclear power. This divide can be explained by safety concerns, ecofeminist ethics of care, and the nuclear industry’s macho culture. 

The striking gender divide is another reason to question the viability of nuclear energy to attain climate justice and energy democracy.

For the whole article, click here.

ARC-100 nuclear SMR now unlikely in NB

In 2018, NB Power partnered with ARC Nuclear (now ARC Clean Technology) to develop small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). That plan is unlikely to come to fruition since ARC has been unable to find a financial partner. Also, the ARC-100 reactor would require high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), which is only produced in Russia.

On Earth Day, April 22, 2025, the Globe and Mail reported the following from the NB Minister for Energy and Finance, René Legacy.

“The original plan to have one or two of the reactors built for 2030, that time frame is probably not going to happen,” Mr. Legacy said, adding that first-of-a-kind reactors are expensive while acknowledging the province’s fiscal constraints. “So we’re looking at, probably, different options.”

See more details on ARC-100 nuclear here.

Nuclear energy means climate action delay

What is the best way for utilities to delay the transition from fossil fuels? Propose to build nuclear reactors.

Electricity utilities wanting to “decarbonize” have several options for replacing the fossil fuel (coal, oil and gas) plants on their grids: aim to increase energy efficiency and productivity; add new renewable energy and storage resources; consider adding carbon capture and storage (CCS); or propose to build new nuclear reactors.

By objective measures, building new nuclear power plants will cost more, take longer to deploy, and introduce catastrophic accident risks—relative to improving energy productivity, expanding renewables with energy storage, and developing distributed energy resources. CCS suffers from limits of appropriate geology, reduced plant efficiency, and high costs.

However, if the goal is to keep fossil fuel-fired plants operating as long as possible, promising to build more nuclear energy has definite appeal.

Read the complete article here.

Dr. Susan O’Donnell is a core member of CRED-NB, on the board of the NB Media Co-op and adjunct research professor and lead investigator of the CEDAR project at St. Thomas University in Fredericton. Dr. Mark Winfield is a professor at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University in Toronto, and co-chair of the faculty’s Sustainable Energy Initiative.

NB Power review: few details and no climate action requirement

Ongoing concerns about energy poverty and spikes in NB Power bills sparked public protests earlier this month. On Monday, Premier Susan Holt and Minister responsible for Energy René Legacy, held a media event short on details but full of promises that changes are coming to the troubled public utility.

The government revealed that the public review of NB Power announced three weeks ago will take place this year and wrap up with a government decision no later than March 2026. More details are promised “later this spring.”

The review, to be led by three expert leads supported by steering and advisory committees, will engage with stakeholders and the public and focus on financial sustainability, governance and utility structure, investor attractiveness and strategic partnerships, and customer expectations.

Despite the link between energy generation and the climate crisis, the review will not include any guidance or requirement that the solutions proposed align with the province’s climate action plan. Minister Legacy said he thinks that “groups will come forward and ask about anything to do with clean energy, so that will come up as a focus.”

Read the full article here.

Susan O’Donnell is a core member of CRED-NB, on the NB Media Co-op board of directors and the lead researcher for the CEDAR project at St. Thomas University.

Climate Action Network Canada releases Election Priorities

Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac) has released Made-in-Canada Climate Solutions: 2025 Election Priorities, setting out its calls to action for federal parties this campaign.

The calls to action are based on six pillars:

  1. Strengthen Canada’s independence and economy by shifting to clean energy.
  2. Build on Canada’s climate and nature progress.
  3. Make Canadians’ lives safer, healthier, and more affordable.
  4. Center people and communities.
  5. Protect our public institutions and tackle billionaire power and greed.
  6. Champion international cooperation amidst geopolitical chaos.

See the CAN-Rac press release HERE

CRED-NB is a member of Climate Action Network.

Climate Action Network – Réseau action climat (CAN-Rac) Canada is a coalition of over 180 organizations operating from coast to coast to coast. Their membership brings environmental groups together with trade unions, First Nations, social justice, development, health and youth organizations, faith groups and local, grassroots initiatives.

Earth Day Rally at the New Brunswick Legislature

Seniors for Climate, a Canada-wide movement of concerned older adults, invites you to an Earth Day Rally at the Legislature, 706 Queen Street, Fredericton on Tuesday, April 22, from noon to 2 pm.

At this action-packed gathering, we’ll hear from climate and community leaders, connect with grassroots groups taking positive social and climate action, listen to great music, and shout out loudly for our politicians to stop the burning of fossil fuels and move rapidly to clean, affordable, and reliable renewable energy. Later is Too Late!

At 11:30 am just before the Rally, join us in front of Fredericton City Hall, 397 Queen Street, to hear the Mayor proclaim April 22 as Earth Day in Fredericton at 11:45, then make your own way to the Legislature. You are permitted to carry signs. Share this message with 10 friends, youth to seniors, and invite them to share with 10 friends, and so on. If everybody shares, we could see 1,000 people! 

Come, bring a friend, bring signs and lend your voice.

Tritium emissions from Point Lepreau pose health hazard

Recently, Point Lepreau has been scrutinized for costs that could reach $294 million for its 249-day outage, its contribution to about three-quarters of NB Power’s nearly $5.4 billion debt, and whether it should be shut down. Missing from discussion, however, are the reactor’s tritium emissions and the health hazard they pose.

All CANDU reactors like Point Lepreau use heavy water to sustain a chain reaction to produce steam that drives a turbine to generate electricity, and to prevent the core from overheating and melting down. Over time, tritium, or radioactive hydrogen, builds up in the heavy water. To reduce the risk of exposing nuclear workers and the public to increasing radiation levels, the heavy water from the moderator system must be treated or replaced.

NB Power was asked if Point Lepreau’s heavy water had ever been replaced or treated. Through email, Kathleen Duguay, manager, community affairs and nuclear regulatory protocol at Point Lepreau responded as follows: “The Station has not undergone a replacement of heavy water since the reactor began operations.”

This commentary by Ann McAllister was published in the New Brunswick Telegraph Journal on March 1, 2025. To read more click HERE.

Ann McAllister, a retired teacher, participated as an intervenor in the relicensing hearing for the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station held by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission in May 2022.

American companies profit from Canada’s radioactive waste

(La version française suit)

From the SMRs Education Task Force: Bulletin number 15 • March 2025

Toxic radioactive waste is expensive to clean up. Canada’s contract to clean up its legacy waste is worth billions for a three-company consortium: Canada’s AtkinsRéalis and Texas-based Fluor and Jacobs. The two American companies run nuclear weapons facilities in the U.S. and U.K. in addition to their Canadian nuclear interests.

Parliament’s payment to the consortium last year was $1.3 billion. The annual payments have risen each year of the 10-year contract that will end in September 2025. The consortium operates “Canadian Nuclear Laboratories” (CNL) in a “Government-owned, Contractor-operated” (GoCo) arrangement with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL).

The U.K. abandoned GoCo contracts because of exorbitant costs and poor value for money. Under Canada’s GoCo contract, AECL owns lands, buildings, and radioactive waste, and the three-company consortium operates AECL’s sites.

When the Harper government issued the 10-year GoCo contract during the 2015 federal election period, they said AECL lacked the ability to clean up Canada’s multi-billion radioactive waste liability dating to World War II and needed “private sector rigour.” From their billion-dollar annual payout, the three partner corporations take $237 million for “contractual expenses.” The salaries of 44 senior CNL managers, mostly Americans, average over $500,000 each.

Read more

Les entreprises américaines profitent des déchets radioactifs du Canada

De le groupe de travail sur l’éducation relative aux PRM : Bulletin numéro 15 • Mars 2025

Les déchets radioactifs toxiques sont coûteux à nettoyer. Le contrat du Canada pournettoyer ses déchets qui s’accumulent vaut des milliards pour un consortium de troisentreprises : AtkinsRéalis du Canada et Fluor and Jacobs, basées au Texas. Les deuxsociétés américaines exploitent des installations d’armement nucléaire aux États-Uniset au Royaume-Uni, en plus de leurs intérêts nucléaires canadiens.Le paiement du Parlement au consortium l’an dernier s’est élevé à 1,3 milliard dedollars. Les paiements annuels ont augmenté chaque année du contrat de 10 ans quise terminera en septembre 2025.

Le consortium exploite les « Laboratoires nucléaires canadiens » (LNC) dans le cadred’une entente avec Énergie atomique du Canada limitée (EACL) dite « GoCo(Government-owned, Contractor-operated » qui signifie que le gouvernement possèdel’organisme, mais que le consortium le gère.

Le Royaume-Uni a abandonné les contrats de GoCo en raison des coûts exorbitants etdu faible rapport qualité-prix. En vertu du contrat de GoCo du Canada, EACL estpropriétaire des terres, des bâtiments et des déchets radioactifs, et le consortium detrois sociétés exploite les sites d’EACL.

Lorsque le gouvernement Harper a publié le contrat de 10 ans pour la GoCo pendant lapériode des élections fédérales de 2015, il a déclaré qu’EACL n’avait pas la capacité denettoyer les déchets radioactifs du Canada qui représentent des milliards de dollars etqui datent de la Seconde Guerre mondiale et qu’elle devait faire preuve de « rigueur dusecteur privé ».

Sur leur versement annuel de 1 milliard de dollars, les trois sociétés partenairesprennent 237 millions de dollars pour des « dépenses contractuelles ». Les salaires de44 cadres supérieurs des LNC, pour la plupart américains, excèdent en moyenne500 000 $ chacun.

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Podcast: Break In Case of Emergency

CRED-NB is an active member of Climate Action Network – Canada. A fellow network member, the Climate Emergency Unit, has started a new podcast called Break In Case of Emergency. So far it’s BC focused but we think they will have a lot of relevant information to share, especially since they have a Canadian perspective.

The podcast features urgent conversations about the crisis that connects us all. As global temperatures soar and communities face devastating climate disasters, they share conversations with frontline activists and organizers about what a true emergency response looks like—beyond government inaction, corporate greenwashing, and climate denial. Through critical analysis, storytelling, and radical imagination, they examine the systems of power that are blocking climate action and explore what’s required to build a movement for a just, livable planet.

Try a listen at https://www.climateemergencyunit.ca/podcast

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Don’t backslide on fossil fuel projects

By Jim Emberger – Special to Brunswick News – Published February 20, 2025

Threatening times, with rapidly changing events, inevitably produce two things. Public and media attention becomes focused on the turmoil and pace of immediate concerns, and longstanding issues, regardless of importance, are set aside.

Secondly, some corporate or financial interests will attempt to use the distraction to push profiteering schemes, especially unpopular ones.  This is sometimes known as “disaster capitalism.”

We see this today as Canada’s fossil fuel producers, and their political and media allies, respond to Donald Trump’s tariff threats by re-introducing the ideas of the Energy East bitumen pipeline and various shale gas/LNG projects.

These projects are now cloaked in patriotism, with their proponents cynically counting on the public’s anxiety and patriotic fervour to cloud its memory of the legitimate economic and environmental grounds for rejecting the projects originally.

Read more

Jim Emberger is the spokesperson for the New Brunswick Anti-Shale Gas Alliance (NBASGA). NBASGA is a CRED-NB Champion.