Canada Wants to Solve U.S. Nuclear Woes With Faraway Dams
- Hydro-Quebec seeks to supply energy to New York, Massachusetts
- Power would help replace losses from closing nuclear reactors
Water is released down the spillways at Djerdap 1, Serbia's largest hydro-electric power plant which is operated by Elektroprivreda Srbije, on the Danube river in Kladovo, Serbia, on Wednesday, May 4, 2011. Serbia expects as much as 9 billion euros ($13.4 billion) to be invested in the overhaul and development of its energy sector by 2015, according to Dusan Mrakic, a state secretary with the Energy and Mining Ministry.
Photographer: Oliver Bunic/BloombergThe key to replacing aging nuclear plants in the U.S. Northeast may lie 1,000 miles away, along a remote river tumbling through the Canadian wilderness.
In boreal forests above the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Hydro-Quebec is building a series of dams that will generate enough electricity for more than one million homes. The $5.2 billion project on the Romaine River is part of a sweeping expansion the government-owned utility began in 2007, with the intention of selling power to the U.S. where nuclear reactors are closing.