The Conservation Council of New Brunswick says it is concerned about the lack of costing for small modular reactors (SMRs) in the NB Power Integrated Resource Plan, which aims to see the province be net zero by 2035.
SMRs are new technology in the nuclear power sphere. A single small modular reactor is capable of producing 300 megawatts.
Moe Qureshi, the CCNB’s manager of climate solutions, said the IRP focused heavily on SMRs despite their relative newness and left out a key component to using them in the future – the cost.
“Every pathway shows that SMRs are needed towards getting to net zero but what was strange was a lot of data was missing to justify some of these claims, primarily the cost of SMRs,” he said.
The IRP shows 16 pathways to getting New Brunswick to net-zero emissions by the target year, but a report by Energy + Environment Economics shows SMRs are the most expensive option.
In fact, Qureshi said data shows it can take up to a decade to develop a single SMR and the cost for a 300-megawatt SMR is almost $2.1 billion.
“We really expect some lower-cost options to be pushed forward rather than expensive ones,” he said in an interview on Thursday.
He said considering NB Power’s overwhelming debt and the levels of energy poverty in both New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada, he expected more rigorous inspection of the cost associated with this type of solution.
As of 2023, NB Power has $5.4 million in debt.
It also applied to the Energies and Utilities Board for a nearly nine per cent rate hike for customers across all rate classes, citing ongoing inflationary costs and buying power.
It said at the time that the hike wouldn’t be enough to begin servicing the debt.
“It’s weird to put so much faith into something that we don’t know if it will work,” Qureshi said.
Wind and solar are two other pathways, he explained, that have been tested and proven to work. The E3 report also shows solar energy could be cheaper than traditional energy sources like gas by the late 2020s.
In fact, NB Power has set up a solar farm in Shediac. It is the utility’s first 1.63-megawatt (MW) solar farm – designed to provide clean electricity to the Shediac Multipurpose Centre and the Government of Canada Pension Centre, two net-zero buildings within town limits.
About 500 homes have transitioned to solar power.
“I’ve heard only good things about it. That report is not released yet, but hopefully it’ll be released soon and it’s showing that there is a huge positive switch from solar and wind and everyone that switched so far is quite happy with it,” Qureshi said.
Saint John Energy has also made a major investment into Burchill Wind Farm.
Neqotkuk First Nation (Tobique) partnered with Natural Forces to form the Burchill Wind Limited Partnership (LP), with Tobique First Nation being the majority owner of the project and Natural Forces the minority owner.
There are 10 turbines in total that will produce about 15 per cent of Saint John Energy’s power needs.
NB Power declined an interview with Global News on concerns raised by the CCNB.
In a statement, the utility said it “is exploring new, cleaner ways of delivering energy to our customers and seeking new partnerships to improve our service delivery and our financial position.”
It said it anticipates the funding for SMRs will come through strategic financial partnerships, which will “be designed to foster accountability, transparency, and long-term sustainability, while facilitating the realization of the project’s potential benefits.”
“At this time, it is too early to provide cost projections for the project,” the statement read.
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