EDMONTON — Alberta Utilities Minister Nathan Neudorf says a public feedback report that suggests support for nuclear energy is not a “slam dunk” for the industry, as it urges the pursuit of nuclear power while also encouraging the legwork to keep people safe.
The report from Alberta’s Nuclear Energy Engagement panel heard from close to 6,000 people in a survey, with more than 400 tuning in to webinars on the topic.
“We didn’t have a baked-in solution before we started. We want to hear from Albertans and, to be perfectly honest, they raised a lot of questions,” Neudorf told reporters Wednesday as he released the report.
Those questions included how the province would manage radioactive waste.
“Even if we moved into nuclear, we wouldn’t have that waste for 35 or 40 years. They do want to know that up front and I think that’s a prudent, reasonable question that should be answered before we begin,” Neudorf said.
Overall, the participants backed adding nuclear to “Alberta’s energy mix,” the report’s authors stated, but noted that support was tied to the desire to consider safety, protect the environment, and respect the rights and priorities of Indigenous and local communities.
The authors also cautioned that survey answers likely came from people already interested in pursuing the nuclear option and cautioned “survey results should not be considered to reflect the views of Alberta’s population.”
One survey showed the vast majority of respondents were comfortable having a nuclear facility in Alberta. A slimmer majority supported a facility near their community.
The same survey also found that while most people were undeterred by the safety risks of nuclear energy, close to half were at least somewhat concerned.
In November, the province signed a memorandum of understanding with Ottawa. It committed the province to developing a strategy to build and operate nuclear power generation.
Nuclear power is already being considered in Alberta, with a proposed site from the company Energy Alberta. Neudorf says other companies have also expressed interest.
Energy Alberta is proposing the construction of a two-towered plant, the first of its kind in the province, near the town of Peace River. A group in northern Alberta organized a plebiscite in October with results that suggested the majority of residents were opposed to the site.
As proposed, the site would cover about 14 square kilometres and generate 4,800 megawatts, enough to power close to five million homes.
Tim Weis, a senior director of industrial decarbonization with the clean energy think tank Pembina Institute, says that while nuclear may be a part of Alberta’s future, the number of questions about implementation show “it is still decades away.”
Instead, the province should focus on renewable energy, he argues.
“Large amounts of low-cost wind and solar power is being wasted because of a failure to upgrade sufficient transmission lines in southern Alberta,” Weis said in a statement.
Weis said he’s also concerned about the cost of nuclear energy, stating wind and solar are significantly cheaper.
Nagwan Al-Guneid, the Opposition NDP energy critic, welcomed exploring nuclear energy in the province but also questioned the cost of including nuclear in Alberta’s energy portfolio, asking who would pay for the new developments.
“We haven’t seen a single nuclear project worldwide that was not subsidized by public money,” said Al-Guneid.
Neudorf said private investment would drive the construction of new facilities, rather than taxpayer funds.
Ontario and New Brunswick already use nuclear power, while others like Saskatchewan are also looking to ramp up their nuclear power supply.
In B.C., the province’s Clean Energy Act restricts the use of nuclear power, and other provinces have banned mining or exploration for uranium, the metal primarily used as fuel to generate nuclear power.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 22, 2026.
— By Dayne Patterson in Calgary
The Canadian Press
