Budget may reveal extent of federal support for risky new nuclear reactors – Part I
[ https://rabble.ca/news/2021/04/budget-m ... r-reactors ]
Joyce Nelson | April 15, 2021
Across Canada, environmentalists and First Nations will be closely watching the April 19 release of the federal budget to see just how far the Trudeau Liberals will go in their push for small modular reactors (SMRs).
In September 2020, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources Seamus O'Regan endorsed SMRs and stated that there is "no pathway to net zero [carbon emissions] without nuclear," which prompted David Suzuki to famously tell the CBC: "I want to puke."
Apparently, many share that feeling.
More than 100 Indigenous and civil society groups across Canada are now opposed to the new nuclear reactors, which are being pushed by the federal government and four provinces -- Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick and Alberta -- as so-called "clean energy" and a supposed solution to climate change.
These governments argue that the reactors would be the replacement for diesel in remote communities and for use in off-grid mining, tar-sands development, heavy industry, and as exportable expertise in a global market.
But opponents call SMRs "dirty, dangerous and distracting" [ https://cela.ca/dirty-dangerous-new-reactors/ ] from real climate solutions.
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