Nuclear Plan for OilSands IMMINENTNuclear plan for oilsands 'imminent': 'It started as a pie in the sky and it's just grown'
The National Post, 2007/01/11 (via InfoMart)
A proposal to build nuclear power plants in the oilsands could be unwrapped within weeks, industry sources said yesterday.
"If you don't hear something from us within 90 days I'd be very surprised,'' Wayne Henuset, a founding partner with Calgary-based Energy Alberta Corp. (EAC), said in an interview.
"It started as a pie in the sky and it's just grown from there.''
EAC, which signed an agreement with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited last summer to commercialize CANDU reactors in the oil industry, is a private company that includes Precision Drilling chairman Hank Swartout among its backers.
Mr. Henuset confirmed EAC has been in discussions with large oilsands producers looking to reduce their reliance on natural gas to generate heat and steam in large-scale thermal projects.
The comments came after Husky Energy Inc. chief executive John Lau on Monday said his firm is looking at nukes to fuel its proposed 200,000-barrel per day Sunrise thermal oilsands project.
But Henuset said Husky's plans are separate from proposals being pitched by EAC.
"We're talking to a number of companies and they're one of them,'' Mr. Henuset said."(But) no, it's not us.''
Dr. Eddy Isaacs, the Alberta Energy Research Institute's (AERI) executive director, also expects at least one nuclear scheme will be submitted in response to a request for proposals that closes this month.
AERI, the research arm of the Alberta government, is a member of Energy Inet Inc., a consortium of government and industry that issued a call to look at ways of reducing natural gas use in the oilsands back in December.
Energy INet includes government agencies and Crown corporations as well as large oil producers such as Nexen Inc., Shell Canada Limited, En Cana Corp. and Canadian Natural Resources.
"Nobody's money is on the table yet,'' Mr. Isaacs said. "This study is one of many we're doing to look at alternate sources of energy in the oilsands. It will give a ange of what it would cost to do this and get a sense if it will fly.''
Soheil Asgarpour, Energy Inet's oilsands director and project co-ordinator, said a steering committee will review the proposals and commission the study, which could be public by fall.
Mr. Asgarpour said the research will look at the most efficient technology as opposed to a formal project or proposal. "That's not our job, our job is to say what makes sense,'' he said.
Even if it proves economically feasible, Mr. Isaacs cautioned a functioning nuclear reactor could still be decades away.
"It takes a lot of effort to get these things commercialized,'' he said. "I don't think you're going to see a project for a long, long time.''
Any formal proposal would have to jump through considerable regulatory hurdles and potentially stiff public resistance before it could be approved.
Although an application to build a nuclear power plant in Alberta has never come before the province's Energy and Utilities Board, spokesman Darin Barter said the regulatory agency is well qualified to consider it.
He envisioned a "collaborative oilsands process'' involving several government departments and outside stakeholders.
"It may be unprecedented, but we are equipped to give that kind of application the scrutiny that's required,'' he said."The bottom line for us is that we just haven't seen one.''
Mr. Henuset said he is confident the public at large will come to appreciate the economic and environmental benefits of nuclear power, including reduced greenhouse gas emissions.