New Brunswick's energy minister says it's too soon to worry about a long-term nuclear storage site being located in the province.

Energy Minister Jack Keir said New Brunswick has an obligation to be involved in the process of finding a long-term home for the radioactive material in Canada because it is one of three provinces with a nuclear reactor.

"I don't think this is a matter of you're not going to do this in my backyard," Keir said. "I think we have to be above that. I think we have to look at what's best for our nuclear industry in New Brunswick.

"We have to look at what's best for the nuclear industry in Canada. But we are so far ahead of ourselves."

Keir said the site for the nuclear waste will have to meet certain geological criteria, and so far, it's not clear whether New Brunswick meets the requirements.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is starting information sessions in the hopes of eventually finding a community willing to host a storage site.

New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec are the only provinces in Canada with nuclear reactors.

There are concerns about where the waste from those reactors will eventually end up.

The nuclear waste generated at the Point Lepreau nuclear reactor is currently stored on site.

Agency set up in 2002 to find long-term storage

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization was set up in 2002 to look at long-term storage of that waste, and is starting the process of finding a storage site.

According to the organization, the community that agrees to host a nuclear waste site could get between $16- to 24-billion in infrastructure funding.

But Progressive Conservative MLA Bruce Northrup, the opposition's acting environment critic, said the potential infrastructure funding is not a good enough reason to locate the facility in the province.

"If we bring nuclear waste in from Ontario or whatever, we're a little leery of the safety aspect sort of thing," he said. "It's a matter of saying health rather than wealth."