Strong Support For Nuclear Power In Canada

While other nations shutter their nuclear plants, Canadians remain supportive of nuclear power to meet energy needs

(Carlos Osorio / Reuters file)

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Nuclear power has always held some negative connotations for folks. Whether it’s the atomic weapons that still loom over our heads today or one of four notable disasters in the seventy-three years nuclear power has been in use, the industry remains with rattling chains around its feet

Yet, as climate change continues, nuclear power has seen its popularity increase in recent years as an alternative to carbon intensive fossil fuels.

So what do Canadians think about nuclear power?

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Canada’s Energy Mix Today

As of 2019, Canada derived more than 60% of its electricity production from hydroelectricity, with nuclear power coming second, making up about 15% of national electricity production.

Some provinces, such as Quebec, Manitoba, British Columbia, and Newfoundland and Labrador, derive almost all of their electricity production from hydro. Provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan, the two largest oil and gas producers, pull between 80-90% of their electricity from coal and gas.

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Yet, only two provinces in Canada have any large scale nuclear power production; Ontario and New Brunswick.

Ontario pulls more than half (59%) of their electricity generation from nuclear power plants, making it the largest producer and user of nuclear in the country. New Brunswick pulls more than a third of its power production (38%) from nuclear energy.

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The Nation Needs Nuclear Energy, Say Canadians

In October 2023, Ipsos polled Canadians about their feelings towards nuclear energy and its role in Canada’s future. Overall, a strong majority of Canadians are confident in Canada’s ability to use nuclear power moving forward.

The poll found that 64% of Canadians say they are confident that Canada can generate nuclear power safely, avoiding the exceedingly rare instances of nuclear catastrophes such as Fukushima or Chernobyl.

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An additional 62% of Canadians say that nuclear energy can help Canada meet its climate goals by helping to reduce dependency on dirty forms of energy production, such as coal and natural gas.

Notably, another 62% of Canadians agree that nuclear energy needs to play a significant role in Canada’s energy future, alongside renewables such as solar and wind.

Canadians seem much more open to the continued use, and expansion of, nuclear power. Unlike other nations around the world, such as Germany whose shuttering of nuclear plants has led to the resumption of coal burning to meet its energy needs domestically, Canadians see nuclear as an important part of its energy independence.

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Renewables Ahead, Fossil Fuels Mixed, Nuclear Steady

In December 2022, the Angus Reid Institute asked Canadians their feelings about various forms of energy production in Canada.

When asked whether they support or oppose expanding each form of energy production, Canadians showed high levels of support for the expansion of wind and solar.

Nuclear held a strong majority, with 57% of Canadians supporting the expansion of nuclear energy, while only 30% were opposed. Fossil fuels all ranked lower than nuclear, with oil and gas ranking the highest of those, with 50% of Canadians supporting the expansion of that industry.

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Looking into the support across the nation, most provinces held majority support for the expansion of nuclear power. Four provinces held higher levels of support than the national average, those being New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan (Ironically, those same four provinces have all agreed to work together to expand nuclear energy).

Nova Scotia, British Columbia, and Manitoba residents were also in support of expanding nuclear energy production.

Only two provinces were below 50%, Newfoundland and Labrador and Quebec.

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Quebec is an interesting case. The province has high levels of support for climate-related policies, and Abacus Data recently reported that Quebecers are among the most environmentally-focused residents in the nation, as per their MRP project. Yet, only 30% of Quebecers support expanding the low-carbon energy source that is nuclear.

A simple answer to that could be that Quebec already derives all of its electricity production from hydro, a renewable energy source itself, and thus doesn’t see the need to include the likes of nuclear into the mix.

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Partisan Support For Energy Expansion

Following the Quebec results, it’s unsurprising then that Bloc voters are least supportive of expanding nuclear power among Canadian voters, with only 20% of Bloc voters voicing their support.

Greens also ranked lower than average in their support of expanding nuclear, yet still far ahead of the Bloc, while Liberals, New Democrats, and Conservatives all share majority support for the expansion of the industry.

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For comparison, Liberals, Greens, Bloc, and New Democratic voters all overwhelmingly support the expansion of solar energy (More than 90% in the case of Liberals and New Democrats). PPC voters are the only ones opposed to the expansion of solar energy.

On the other end of the spectrum is the expansion of coal power. Only PPC voters support expanding coal power, with a strong plurality of Conservatives following suit. Less than 10% of all other party voters support expanding coal power.

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Canada’s Future?

Nuclear power has been a touchy subject for some for many years now. Concerns about nuclear accidents are typically top of mind and the potential death toll, both human and non-human, such accidents could bring.

Yet, nuclear is an incredibly potent energy source, beating out all other forms of electricity generation literally pound-for-pound of fuel use. That’s not to mention an incredibly safe form of energy production, with only 0.03 deaths per terawatt-hour and only beat out by solar’s 0.02 deaths per TWH, or its incredibly low emission output compared to fossil fuels.

There are provinces and territories in Canada that still rely heavily on fossil fuels for the overwhelming majority of their electricity production. Renewables and nuclear power will be needed to clean up those sources of energy production, if Canada wants to make some modicum of progress towards meeting its climate goals.

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