Alberta's Nuclear Option

While you're talking to contenders for King Ralph's job on the BBQ circuit this summer, consider asking them a question about their stance on putting some nuclear plants up in Ft. McMurray for the oilsands.

Oil is extracted from oilsands by using a little substance known as steam. Nuclear power plants run on steam (nuclear reaction heats water to make steam, goes through a heat exchanger and more water is boiled off, then it hits the turbines to generate power). We are currently buring, literally, tons of natural gas to generate the steam necessary go get oil...does it really make sense to use one non-renewable resource to get another? Granted, uranium is, technically, a non-renewable resource, but the world's largest supply of it is only a couple hundred miles to the northeast in the People's Republic of Saskatchewan. Hell, even if we don't generate a single kW of electricity, a more efficient way of generating the steam necessary for the oil extraction will be worth its weight in gold!