FREDERICTON - A New Brunswick environmental group is calling on the province's public power utility to delay the restart of the Point Lepreau nuclear reactor until a new earthquake hazard study is done.
Sharon Murphy of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick says it believes the reactor could not withstand a serious earthquake along the province's south coast.
Last week, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission granted NB Power a five-year licence renewal for Point Lepreau and granted permission to begin reloading fuel and restart the reactor.
The commission recommended that the utility complete a new seismic hazard assessment and make the results public.
NB Power spokeswoman Kathleen Duguay says that assessment will be done, but she could not say when.
She says the generating station was designed to withstand potential earthquakes and a number of seismic upgrades have been done during the current shutdown.
Point Lepreau has been out of service since March 2008 for a major refurbishment that's meant to extend the life of the reactor by 25 years.
The project is three years behind schedule and $1 billion over the original $1.4-billion budget.
