Point Lepreau nuclear power station's licence renewed for 10 years

The operating licence for New Brunswick’s Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station has been renewed for another 10 years, in a decision released Wednesday from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

Point Lepreau’s current five-year licence will expire on June 30. NB Power had requested the commission grant an unprecedented 25-year licence renewal.

In its decision, the commission said a 10-year licence was “appropriate,” making note of the “strong public interest” in a series of public hearings.

The commission also said the renewed 10-year licence would allow NB Power to continue “the need to advance reconciliation with Indigenous Nations and communities.”

The decision also directed NB Power and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to provide a “comprehensive update” by 2027 -- five years into the renewed licence -- addressing concerns raised at the public hearings.

The Point Lepreau CANDU nuclear reactor, located about 35 minutes west of Saint John, N.B., began producing electricity in 1983. It is Atlantic Canada’s only nuclear power generating station.