Saskatchewan Party and New Democratic MLAs have voted unanimously in favour of a motion supporting "consideration" of further development of the uranium industry.

Saskatchewan is the world's biggest uranium producer, but it doesn't have any refineries or a nuclear power plant. The nuclear issue has been debated all week in the legislature in advance of a major report expected Friday from an advisory panel called the Uranium Development Partnership.

Saskatchewan Party MLAs have been trying to drive a wedge between NDP ranks on the nuclear issue, saying some supporters are pro-development and some are against.

Earlier this week, two candidates running for the NDP leadership, Ryan Meili and Yens Pedersen, urged NDP MLAs to vote "no" on the motion from Saskatchewan Party MLA Jeremy Harrison.

The motion said the legislative assembly "supports the consideration of further value-added development of Saskatchewan's uranium industry including nuclear power generation and recognizes the potential benefits to the growth and prosperity of the people of our province."

The NDP wanted energy conservation, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal and other alternative power generation also to be considered, but in the end voted "yes" along with the Saskatchewan Party MLAs. Harrison's motion passed 53-0.

During debate in the legislature, NDP MLA Kim Trew said if Saskatchewan moves into nuclear power, it could mean SaskPower would have to borrow billions for transmission lines and other infrastructure.

"We all know who it is who's going to be paying for that," he said.

The Saskatchewan Party issued a news release thanking the NDP MLAs for supporting the motion.

The NDP's position was that since the motion asked them only to "consider" further development of the industry, the MLAs could support it.