{"id":817472,"date":"2026-07-22T00:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T00:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/817472\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T00:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T00:30:13","slug":"why-these-first-nations-in-b-c-are-studying-nuclear-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/817472\/","title":{"rendered":"Why these First Nations in B.C. are studying nuclear power"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Estimated 3 minutes<\/p>\n

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Should nuclear power play a role in the future of B.C.’s energy mix?<\/p>\n

It’s a question some First Nations say is worth asking, after a delegation travelled to Ontario last week to visit the Darlington New Nuclear Project. <\/p>\n

“We are trying to educate ourselves to the pros and cons,” Chief Wes Sam of the Ts’il Kaz Koh First Nation told CBC’s On the Coast. <\/p>\n

LISTEN | B.C. First Nations investigate nuclear power:<\/p>\n

Radio West8:37Some B.C. First Nations believe nuclear power should be part of province’s clean-energy future<\/p>\n

Alex Grzybowski\u00a0is a member of the First Nations Climate Initiative. He recently went to Ontario to tour the Darlington New Nuclear Project to consider whether this technology could play a role in generating energy in B.C.<\/p>\n

“We are basically just fact-finding, getting educated on what they are doing back east and some other First Nations … are doing.”<\/p>\n

The project is of particular interest due to the involvement of First Nations in plans to construct four new small modular reactors (SMR) at the Darlington site.<\/p>\n

In June, the seven Williams Treaties First Nations northeast of Toronto signed an agreement with the Ontario and federal governments for $700 million in loan guarantees that will buy them an equity share of one of the new SMRs.<\/p>\n

“Through this investment, we are not only creating opportunities for our own communities \u2014 we are helping advance a project that will play an important role in meeting Ontario and Canada’s growing energy needs,” the chiefs of the Williams Treaties nations said in a statement announcing the deal.<\/p>\n

First-hand look<\/p>\n

The delegation was led by the First Nations Climate Initiative (FNCI), which includes the Haisla, Metlakatla, Nisga’a and Halfway River First Nations. <\/p>\n

The seven-person group visited both the Darlington site and the Nuclear Waste Management Organization. <\/p>\n

They also met with representatives of the Williams Treaties nations who were involved in the equity negotiations. <\/p>\n

“They have been living with nuclear power for a long, long time,” said FNCI facilitator Alex Grzybowski.<\/p>\n

Darlington’s existing CANDU reactors came online in the early 1990s. <\/p>\n

“Having lived with it and not benefitted from it, they reached the conclusion that they were going to be a part of it,” Grzybowski said. “So they provided some information about what the agreement is they’ve negotiated.”<\/p>\n

WATCH | Group of Ontario First Nations ink landmark nuclear deal:\"\"<\/p>\n

7 First Nations sign $715M nuclear reactor deal<\/p>\n

Several First Nations communities will receive minority ownership in the Darlington New Nuclear Project. This historic agreement, made between Ottawa, Ontario and seven First Nations communities in the province, is the largest Indigenous loan guarantee issued in Canada, worth about $715 million. The first modular, out of four, is expected to be completed by 2030.<\/p>\n

Sam said First Nations leaders got answers to a variety of questions, including about water usage and dangers associated with nuclear waste. <\/p>\n

He added that he was impressed by the facility’s small footprint and high power output. <\/p>\n

“I was pretty surprised when they said it’s 300 people to manage and take care of a plant like this … It’s like a small town to operate these,” he said. <\/p>\n

“That could be of interest for towns potentially that are losing mills. We’re not doing well in the forestry industry so we are looking at a number of different technologies.”<\/p>\n

Those efforts have also included sending a delegation to Spain to get a first-hand look at wind and solar power generation. <\/p>\n

While the Ontario tour was enough to pique the delegation’s interest, Sam said there is much more to learn before taking a position on it.<\/p>\n

There’s also the fact that British Columbia currently bans nuclear power generation.<\/p>\n

“My community also has to get educated on it,” Sam said. <\/p>\n

“That would be next steps \u2014 get a contingent of youth and elders to do the tour and see if they even want the conversation.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-817472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}