THE CANADIAN PRESS
REGINA - The Saskatchewan legislature has passed a motion supporting the development of nuclear power, just one day before a report is to be made public on how the province should foster its uranium industry.
The motion, passed Thursday with the support of the governing Saskatchewan Party and the Opposition New Democrats, calls on the legislative assembly to back "consideration of further value-added development of Saskatchewan's uranium industry including nuclear power generation."
Enterprise and Innovation Minister Lyle Stewart said earlier there are no guarantees that a nuclear power plant will be built in Saskatchewan.
"It's a 50-50 proposition in my mind," he said. "I think that we need to do something to provide baseload power that's either free of GHGs (greenhouse gas emissions) or a low emitter of GHGs, and there aren't many options."
Saskatchewan is the world's largest producer of uranium - the key component in nuclear power generation. But mining the raw material is as far as the province has progressed in the nuclear cycle.
Premier Brad Wall has repeatedly suggested that Saskatchewan would like to branch into everything from uranium enrichment to medical research and the development of small reactor technology.
Last year, the government appointed a 12-member panel to advise the province on how to develop its uranium and nuclear industry. The Uranium Development Partnership, which studied the nuclear cycle from mining through to disposal, submitted its final report to Stewart this week. It is to be made public Friday.
The $3-million, government-commissioned report on nuclear energy options follows a feasibility study released at the end of November by Bruce Power (TSX:CCO, TSX:TRP).
That study identified a region from Prince Albert west to Lloydminster as a good spot to build. It suggested a plant could be in operation by 2018 and contribute 1,000 megawatts of electricity to Saskatchewan's generation mix by 2020.
Both studies had the Opposition New Democrats up in arms Thursday.
The New Democrats supported the motion because it called for the "consideration" of value-added development, something it said is important to Saskatchewan people.
But NDP Leader Lorne Calvert said he is still concerned about information being provided to the public.
