Last month, The federal government‘s Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) funded five and a half million dollars to Moltex Clean Energy (a nuclear power company out of New Brunswick, Canada) to aid a project designing a molten salt reactor (a type of nuclear fission reactor) and spent fuel recycling facility.
The Green Party of Canada has spoken out against the actions of the federal government, saying:
”…the federal government is not providing Canadians with all the facts, and disrespecting Indigenous Peoples’ territorial rights, as it continues to invest in small modular nuclear reactors (SMNRs) while promoting the technology as a clean energy solution”1
Currently, the funded project is still in the pre-licensing stage, with a Phase 1 Assessment of a Vendor Design Review (VDR) that is in progress as per the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). This phase is preliminary to any licensing approval and does not verify an approval once the review has been completed. Regardless, the federal Government has shown support by funding the project through the SIF to continue designs for the preliminary VDR.
Fredricton Green’s MP Jenica Atwin commented earlier last week at an expert roundtable on Canada’s nuclear policy, “There is nothing clean about nuclear waste no matter how the government tries to present it. This is a dangerous and dirty distraction from the investments we need to see in energy efficiency and renewable energies to combat climate change”.2
Dr. Susan O’Donnell, a researcher and adjunct professor for the University of NB, in attendance at the roundtable, brought up that the SMNR’s technology development is not a quick enough solution to fight the immediacy of the climate crisis and that drawing the attention towards investments in renewable energy sources can show more immediate results.
The support for a project this early in its licensing procedure also shows a neglect for the Wolastoq and Peskotomuhkati Nations who have recently voiced their concerns about the nuclear energy uses in the Moltex project location.
The site location of this SMNR project is on unceded territories of the Wolastoq and Peskotomuhkati Nations. As such, the Wolastoq Grand Council expressed, in a meeting about the activities of the Moltex project, their belief that any developments that affect these lands and waters require their approval. The council adds that the original development of this reactor was also developed outside of the Wolastoq people‘s approval.3
Explicitly stated in the CNSC’s REGDOC-3.2.2: Aboriginal Engagement: Appendix C, Commitment to Aboriginal Consultation, ”The CNSC ensures that all its licensing decisions under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act…uphold the honour of the Crown and consider Aboriginal peoples’ potential or established Aboriginal or treaty rights pursuant to section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982”.
The council concludes that, ”the Government of Canada and the Government of New Brunswick immediately halt any further funding for nuclear reactors at Point Lepreau” until proper consultation is done.
Moltex estimates that they will have a reactor operational by 2030 if they continue on the projected path. With continued support from the Federal Government, possibly sooner.
