August 13, 2025 - Both the NDP and the SaskParty have made public statements indicating that they will cooperate to bring nuclear reactors to Saskatchewan. This is despite the clear evidence that readily available solar, wind and other clean energy solutions are available at lower cost and without risk to our severely endangered environment. We have the skills, technology and ability to provide immediate clean energy to this province without bankrupting our children and grandchildren financially and ecologically. The Saskatchewan Green Party opposes this nuclear plan strongly.
Of further concern, on July 29, Premier Scott Moe was part of a panel for the Midwestern Legislative Conference hosted by the Government of Saskatchewan and attended by 11 provinces and U.S. states. Moe insinuated at this event that he was looking into the possibility of building large nuclear reactors here in the province, such as the Westinghouse AP1000, instead of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors. Our public utility, SaskPower, has purchased land worth $3,190,000 to build a nuclear power plant.
Read more here:
The Saskatchewan NDP have betrayed their many environmentally conscious members and supporters, coming out with clear pro-nuclear statements as well. NDP Opposition Leader Carla Beck has called for a “clear and aggressive strategy to harness the potential of nuclear energy from rock to reactor”. Truly appalling, but their leadership clique are finally coming clean on their intentions – still underhanded, though, that they didn’t do so during the provincial election campaign in October.
Here is an article to read more:
Here are some facts showing why the Saskatchewan Greens oppose SMNRs (and other nuclear power plants):
First, The Planned SMRs have never been approved by any Nuclear Regulator.
The GE Hitachi BWRX 300-SMR has never been built! It is a new design, still in the “conceptual phase”. The Inter-Provincial strategy actually calls for licensing regulation shortcuts for SMRs to fast-track approvals. This lack of thorough ongoing study jeopardizes our safety and health. Saskatchewan is not a testing ground for untried nuclear technology.
Second, Saskatchewan is a drought-prone province, and SMNRs require massive amounts of water.
Nuclear reactors and stored nuclear waste must be cooled to prevent meltdowns. Lake Diefenbaker and/or the Rafferty Reservoir would have to absorb the heat. This would result in negative impacts on water quality, fishing, biodiversity, recreation and irrigation. (And this is the same water source the SaskParty is proposing for their increased Diefenbaker irrigation project!)
Lake Diefenbaker supplies drinking water for a whopping 70% of Saskatchewan’s population. Radioactive contamination of this water source would have a truly devastating impact on our province; not only does the Lake supply the greater part of our drinking water, but it also supplies agricultural water, so much so that our farming community would also be unable to sell their products should contamination occur. It should also be noted that both of our water sources flow into Manitoba and the USA, so contamination would be a national and international issue, not purely affecting our province.
The amount of water in the Souris River Basin varies tremendously from year to year; the reservoirs don’t always fill, but SMNRs will require cooling water constantly. We would like to state clearly that, due to the urgent need for water for cooling in nuclear reactors for safety reasons, our already strained water supply in this province would have to go to these reactors FIRST! So let's not kid ourselves, my friends: that puts the reactors ahead of human drinking water, irrigation needs, animal agriculture, and recreational water needs.
On the basis of water issues alone, nuclear reactors are a terrible choice for our drought-prone province. Climate change is going to exacerbate the current issues: there is guaranteed to be more evaporation, much more serious drought and higher temperatures.
Possibly, we would simply run out of water for these SMRs after spending a truly inconceivable amount of money on them.
Third, of course, comes the enormous price tag of nuclear.
Saskatchewan has a low population and a high debt. We simply cannot afford nuclear. It is the MOST EXPENSIVE energy available! The nuclear industry itself is not financially sound; it is in trouble. Westinghouse Electric went bankrupt in 2017, trying to build modular reactors. They cost over $5 Billion each (and rising) to build. After taking ten years to build, SMRs would need large public subsidies. This will impact funding normally available for healthcare, education, roads and public infrastructure. We would be better off financially to invest in renewable technology that creates jobs. SMRs will only create 75 permanent jobs in Saskatchewan. This public money would be better used employing our own people to build cheaper and more sustainable electricity generation systems with renewables, using proven storage technology, plus upping our energy conservation.
The radioactive hazards involved with the BWRX-300 SMRs planned for Saskatchewan are intense. These reactors will use Enriched Uranium fuel, which is NOT produced in Canada!! It is NOT Saskatchewan uranium, despite the fact that politicians keep saying one of the reasons this makes sense here is that we have large uranium deposits. The uranium would, in fact, be transported from the GE nuclear fuel plant in South Carolina, with the added safety risk from travel.
Also, each of the four planned Saskatchewan BWRX-300 SMRs will emit 33 trillion becquerels (Bq) of radioactive gases into the atmosphere every single year.
Each SMR will also emit 732 million Bq of radioactive hydrogen (tritium) annually. Tritium can cause cancer and birth defects when inhaled or swallowed.
The deadliest known element, plutonium, would be contained in the high-level nuclear waste produced. Spent fuel isn’t “used up” by nuclear reactors – nuclear fission creates new, even more deadly radioactive chemicals within the spent fuel bundles. (Spent fuel is more radioactive than new fuel bundles.)
Each BMRX-300 SMR needs 77.76 tonnes of Enriched Uranium fuel every single year, which will then result in 5,000 tonnes of high-level nuclear waste over the reactor's lifetime.
The highly radioactive buildings and equipment would be left behind when SMRs are decommissioned. The waste from these buildings and from the spent fuel on-site will emit radiation for thousands of years. Our great-great-grandchildren will be harmed by radiation from waste that they receive no benefit from, nor do those future generations have any say in this decision, so consequential for them. The only way those future children have a say is through us, right now.
We, as a province, have fought proposed nuclear power in this province and won. We must do so again.
For further info, please contact:
Naomi Hunter,
Saskatchewan Green Party Leader
1-306-561-8880
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