FREDERICTON, New Brunswick (AP) – A coalition of environmental groups is calling on the Canadian government to reject any involvement in refurbishing New Brunswick’s aging nuclear power plant.

New Brunswick’s Conservative government is expected to announce its plans for the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station by the end of the year. The plant near Saint John is less than 30 miles from the Maine border.

Greenpeace Canada, the Climate Action Network, the Sierra Club, the David Suzuki Foundation and the Pembina Institute, have joined forces and sent a letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin asking that he reject any proposal from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. for reactor refurbishment at Lepreau.

“AECL can only obtain a contract for Point Lepreau refurbishment by accepting the risk for cost overruns, delays, equipment failure, workmanship problems and poor performance,” states the letter, released Friday.

“These government-backed guarantees for the $1.4 billion project would entail huge risks for federal taxpayers.”

The Tory government of Premier Bernard Lord is trying to figure out whether it should decommission the 22-year-old Candu plant or fix it up at an estimated cost of $1.4 billion.

The province has said it would prefer to attract a private partner to share in the cost and the risk of the new facility.

There is speculation that Bruce Power, with its experience in nuclear generation in Ontario, could be one of the private companies the province is hoping to attract.

AECL, which would design and engineer the refurbished reactor at Lepreau, would like to see New Brunswick proceed with the retrofit.

The coalition of environmental groups says that AECL has no prospects for reactor sales and is trying to keep itself alive through the Point Lepreau refurbishment.

“A contract for refurbishment of Point Lepreau would amount to a 25-year backdoor subsidy for the nuclear industry in New Brunswick,” the environmental groups state.

The organizations note in their letter to Martin that even the province’s own Public Utilities Board has ruled that refurbishing the plant would not be in the public interest.

“No nuclear project in Canada has ever been completed on time or on budget,” the environmentalists’ letter states.