Thank you very much for your presentations. Nuclear energy is back in the news. Last evening, a Radio-Canada radio feature dealt with the pressure on uranium prices caused by the construction of nuclear power stations in China. This is a subject that interests me greatly. We have to be able to weigh the pros and cons. In that sense, your presentations gave us food for thought.
On the other hand, Mr. Elston, I am a little surprised to hear you call nuclear energy clean energy. It is as if the fact of reducing CO2 earned the title “very clean”. The problem of the waste remains very real, even if solutions are possible. The management of nuclear waste is our greatest environmental problem at a moment, and we still have no clear solution to it. As a result, some environmentalists and members of the public are afraid of radioactive waste being transported and buried, and of radiation. The public is really wary of nuclear energy.
To be considered clean, it is not enough that nuclear energy does not emit CO2. The question of waste must also be considered appropriately and responsibly. After all, Canada has still not decided how and where the waste will be buried.
Quebeckers are particularly concerned because one of the potential sites under consideration is the Canadian Shield, which in part lies in Quebec territory. Since Quebec uses only 2% of the country's nuclear energy, it is certainly not interested in burying waste that comes from Alberta or from other provinces. This is one of the reasons why Quebeckers are very sensitive to the nuclear question and why they follow it so closely.
Mr. Henuset, you make me smile when you say that oil companies want to reduce CO2. Actually, they have been very honest and are not embarrassed to tell us that their main concern is to reduce their consumption of natural gas because that is one of their greatest expenses in oil sands development. Nuclear energy is an alternative that would allow them to use less natural gas, and, above all, to reduce their energy costs for extracting oil from the tar sands.
I have two questions. The first is directed to Mr. Elston. I have carefully looked at the government budget that deals with natural resources and I have seen that a lot of money is being spent on the management of nuclear waste. Who is financially responsible for the management of waste?
You and Mr. St. Armand feel that development of nuclear energy in Canada is a viable option. What is the projected cost of managing the waste in the long term? How much is this going to cost Canadian taxpayers?