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Suncor Energy has an image problem that seems incurable. The Alberta oil sands giant produces vast amounts of synthetic crude oil, a product that comes with a rather frightening carbon footprint. As the oil sands expand, Suncor will become an ever-bigger target for climate-change activists and green-tinged politicians.
Even Justin Trudeau, who may or may not survive as prime minster after next week’s election, once said that Canada should “phase out” the oil sands.
What can Suncor do? Here’s a radical idea: Get into uranium. Nobody talks much about uranium anymore. The naturally radioactive metal is associated as much with disaster, because of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, as it is with clean energy.
The Fukushima nightmare rattled the electricity generation industry to the point that Germany decided to end its entire nuclear-energy program. Today, only a few courageous sustainable-energy advocates in the Western world are calling for a nuclear-energy revival.
Yet, nuclear energy has not been given a death sentence. Germany aside, there is in fact a nuclear renaissance under way, with China leading the charge. At last count, about 55 nuclear reactors were under construction in various parts of the world, although mostly in Asia. And each of them is desperate for uranium supplies.
For the rest of this column: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/commentary/article-what-if-suncor-energy-used-canadian-uranium-to-clean-up-its-oil-sands/