The Peace River is the largest river in Alberta and yet has the least water allocation licenses. Only 0.2% of provincial water allocations and only 0.3% or 9.1 million cubic metres of all estimated water use in the province are in the Lower Peace Region, implying that less than 1% of the average annual flow is allocated or used. It is for this reason that large energy projects are being considered in the region. In March 2008, Bruce Power made an application with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to build a 4 GW nuclear power plant in the area 30 kilometres west of the Town of Peace River around Lac Cardinal. After a detailed review of that site and other potential sites, Bruce Power Alberta, a subsidiary of Bruce Power announced that it has selected a different site approximately 30 kilometres north of the Town of Peace River. As of December 12, 2011 Bruce Power announced that it would no longer proceed with a nuclear power option in Alberta stating that: “We’ve decided the new nuclear option in Alberta is not something our company will be progressing further.”