New BrunswickNew Brunswick’s energy minister says the government is prioritizing energy security. That means it might make a move on an Ontario-made nuclear reactor instead of other New Brunswick options.New Brunswick has put over $30 million into local SMR companiesSilas Brown · CBC News · Posted: Oct 24, 2025 4:39 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hour agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesNew Brunswick Energy Minister Rene Legacy sys he wants the provincial utility to take care of energy security. That priority could mean buying a nuclear reactor from Ontario instead of New Brunswick. (Michael Heenan/CBC)New Brunswick’s energy minister says expanding nuclear power generation in the province quickly is more important than spending more time and more taxpayer dollars chasing a surge in economic activity through locally made reactors.“I really want N.B. Power to take care of energy security right now. That’s the key. If there’s an economic bit you’re engaging Opportunities New Brunswick, that’s more their field,” Rene Legacy said. “So we’re just maybe separating the two where people were confusing energy security and development at the same time, which kind of muddied the waters.”Legacy says the province could be lining up for Ontaio-made reactors that just received $3 billion in public funding from the federal and Ontario governments, rather than waiting for reactors from ARC Clean Energy or Moltex, two companies that had planned to build at Point Lepreau.WATCH | ‘Not in a position to take that kind of a risk’:N.B. doesn’t want to buy first-of-a-kind nuclear reactorThe province says it wants to add more nuclear to its generating mix, but it’s willing to shop around instead of waiting for New Brunswick-built reactors. N.B. Power has said that it’s clear neither of those companies will be ready for 2030, while the GE-Hitachi reactor in Darlington, Ont., is expected to be online by then.Legacy said that betting on the first-of-a-kind technology is often too expensive and that the province is “technology agnostic,” wanting to see it proven elsewhere before it commits.“We really don’t want the first of a kind,” he said. “New Brunswick is not in a position to take that kind of a risk.”N.B. Power has said that ARC Clean Energy and Moltex reactors would be online at Point Lepreau for 2030. (Submitted by N.B. Power)That’s despite the more than $80 million from the provincial and federal government given to ARC and Moltex since 2018. Both the Brian Gallant government, and the Higgs one that came after, saw it as a chance to generate non-emitting, baseload power to help the province meet its climate targets, while providing economic spinoff to the province. “New Brunswick is going to be front and centre as a leader on the globe as it relates to this emerging technology,” Mike Holland, energy minister in the previous government, said during a question period exchange in November 2023.“It has been five years of me speaking quite extensively about this. Standing behind this technology is what has led us to the point where we are now being highlighted as a world leader.”Former energy minister Mike Holland is a part of a history of support for ARC and Moltex. The current government is changing direction. (Kirk Pennell/CBC)Two years later, Legacy is taking a different view, saying that it’s possible the two reactors under development in New Brunswick do become commercially viable and successful, but New Brunswick won’t necessarily be on the cutting edge of the technology. That’s OK, Legacy said, adding that New Brunswick isn’t competing with Ontario for a piece of the SMR pie.“We are competing with the U.S., we are competing with the U.K.,” Legacy said“We in Canada have to hold together.”Darlington Nuclear Generating Station is constructing Ontario Power Generation’s small modular reactor, which would be the first in a G7 country. (Patrick Morrell/CBC News)Green Leader David Coon is a longstanding critic of nuclear power and says the province should be avoiding SMR technology altogether, even if that means accepting that the public money that went into ARC and Moltex isn’t recovered.Darlington Nuclear Generating Station is constructing Ontario Power Generation’s small modular reactor, which would be the first in a G7 country. (Patrick Morrell/CBC News)“I put money into a car that I realized was never going to get properly fixed, and finally I had to say no more money, the car is going to the junkyard,” he said.“That’s really the situation with nuclear and with Point Lepreau is that we’ve got to stop flushing money down the drain on these technologies that are so expensive and so expensive when they break down, expensive to build, expensive to operate and expensive to repair.”Ontario and New Brunswick also announced a finalized agreement to help improve performance at the province’s existing nuclear reactor at Point Lepreau. New Brunswick will pay a subsidiary of Ontario Power Generation $25 million a year for the next three years, with an additional $8 million in performance bonuses if certain multi-year targets are hit.ABOUT THE AUTHORSilas Brown is a Fredericton-based video journalist. You can reach him at silas.brown@cbc.ca.
Province puts energy security over energizing N.B. economy as it shops for nuclear reactors
