The new federal budget may bolster New Brunswick's aim to build a second nuclear reactor at Point Lepreau, the province's acting finance minister said following the budget's release Tuesday.

The Conservatives' federal budget included a $300 million investment in Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which is developing an Advanced CANDU nuclear reactor.

The provincial government released a feasibility study in early February that said building a second nuclear plant at Point Lepreau on the Bay of Fundy would be viable under certain conditions.

The proposed 1,100-megawatt reactor, which is still in the process of being designed, would be the world's first Advanced CANDU reactor-1000.

The funding in the federal budget sends a message that there is an opportunity to build the reactor, said Jack Keir, who is filling in as finance minister for Victor Boudreau.

"The opportunity is there to invest in nuclear; the nuclear renaissance is back on," Keir said Tuesday. "The federal government sees that, supports it and supports AECL. This is great news for New Brunswick."

But environmentalist David Coon, of the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, said the federal money is an investment in an aging technology.

It's an effort to make AECL, which supplies about 16 per cent of Canada's electricity, more attractive to sell, Coon said.

With files from the Canadian Press