FREDERICTON, New Brunswick – The New Brunswick government says it may close the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant in six years if it can’t strike a deal with any private investors.

Natural Resources Minister Jeannot Volpe said Friday the province is hoping for private-sector involvement to pay some or all of the $1.6 billion cost to upgrade the aging nuclear power station along the Bay of Fundy, less than 30 miles from the Maine border.

British Energy PLC, which operates the Bruce nuclear station near Kincardine, Ontario, already has expressed interest in buying Lepreau and other NB Power assets.

Emera, the parent company of Nova Scotia Power and Maine’s Bangor Hydro-Electric Co., has said it’s also interested. Volpe said it’s not clear whether the interest will turn into an actual offer.

“If we don’t get private-sector offers then at that time we’ll have to consider other options,” Volpe said.

“One option would be to go ahead by ourselves. The other option would be to say that if the risk is too high for the private sector, maybe it’s too high for the province,” he said.

Premier Bernard Lord said there would be a clear message for the government if the private sector decides it’s not worth investing money in the reactor, which currently supplies about 30 percent of New Brunswick’s power needs.

“If no one in the private sector is interested in putting their money on the line, why should we put taxpayers’ dollars on the line?” he said.