The nuclear option

Sensing some reluctance from the crowd, Hawthorne later slips into passive-aggressive salesman mode. "I'm not here to sell you a nuclear plant. If you don't want a nuclear plant, I don't want to be here."

But he does want to be there, and he is selling something the idea that a nuclear renaissance is upon us, that emission-free atomic power will save local economies, keep global warming in check and pave the way to a nuclear-based hydrogen economy. The message in a nutshell: the construction of new nuclear plants in Canada is inevitable.

Nuclear power, once shunned, is back on the table in Canada and around the world. Its image as a risky, expensive, dangerous technology amplified by the Three Mile Island accident and Chernobyl disaster is clouding. Only emission-free nuclear power, proponents say, can keep global warming in check without hindering economic growth.

There's serious talk in Alberta about using nuclear power to reduce emissions during oil sands production. Behind the scenes, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has reportedly embraced the cause. And Ontario has already committed to building two new nuclear reactors totalling 1,000 megawatts in the province just the start, industry and political sources contend.