This presents Canada with a major challenge. The Canadian 1990 green house gas emissions were 564 million tonnes. By 1995 this had risen to 618 million tonnes. The current projection for Canada for 2010 is emission levels of 714 million tonnes. Nuclear power generation should be part of Canada's solution to meeting this challenge.
Electricity produced by commercial nuclear power reactors is clean power.
Nuclear power fully meets the criteria of being a Sustainable Development technology as defined by the accepted Bruntland definition and also as defined by the Canadian government policy on Sustainable Development. No solid wastes are released to the environment from a nuclear power plant. All solid wastes produced in the nuclear plant, including the spent nuclear fuel, are totally contained and safely managed in storage systems that have passed rigorous environmental assessments, which have included comprehensive public reviews and regulatory scrutiny. The production of nuclear fuel, from the mining of the uranium and its associated tailing disposal, through fuel processing and final fuel bundle manufacturing and transportation, is performed under stringent licensing requirements. All of these activities have also passed numerous environmental assessments with public participation.