A nuclear power plant proposed for a site near the Peace River in Alberta, not far from the province's western border, is sparking debate in B.C. about the location and potential environmental impact.

B.C. Energy Minister Richard Neufeld says he is adopting a "wait and see" stance, noting that it's up to the Alberta government to decide where the facility will be built.

Neufeld said he first heard rumours that a nuclear plant would be built in Alberta several months ago.

But he's surprised about the location, saying he expected it to be located closer to Fort McMurray, the centre of Canada's oilsands development.

B.C. NDP Leader Carole James has urged Premier Gordon Campbell to express B.C.'s opposition to the proposed $6-billion plant, saying she was shocked to hear it was being considered.

Christopher Bennett, the interim leader of the B.C. Green party, said greenhouse gases are bad but nuclear power projects could be even worse.

However, an engineer who was involved in designing Canada's Candu nuclear reactors said opinions in B.C. are coloured by the potential impact of nuclear waste from the Hanford nuclear reservation near Richland, Wash.

The U.S. government created Hanford in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the first atomic bomb. The reservation ultimately housed nine reactors to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, and is now often described as the most contaminated waste site in the U.S., with cleanup costs expected to top $50 billion US.

The Americans have called Hanford a "disaster waiting to happen," because it could pollute the Columbia River system, said Bill Cooper, an electrical engineer based in Surrey, B.C., who was involved in designing the Candu reactors.

"That's the main bugaboo," Cooper said.

"The thing that people worry about is the waste,'' he added, admitting such fears are legitimate.

However, Cooper maintains that nuclear reactors are the most viable "clean" option for generating the large amounts of electricity needed to produce the steam that separates oil from the Alberta tarsands.

"There is no combustion and nothing is released into the atmosphere,'' he said.

With files from the Canadian Press