No Nukes News - industry unwinding
Angela Bischoff
greenspi at web.ca
Tue Aug 11 11:48:02 EDT 2009
No Nukes News
Aug. 10, 2009
Quote of the Week:
“The province can order more renewables, import hydro power from
Quebec, and find other ways of filling the void left as aging
reactors begin to shut down.”
You might think this was a quote from Jack Gibbons, Chair of the
Ontario Clean Air Alliance, but no, it was Amir Shalaby, Vice-
President of Ontario Power Authority, the agency responsible for long-
term electricity planning. Kudos!
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/fp/Nuclear+summer/1848047/
story.html
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Democracy in Action
Based on public feedback, we’ve revised our leaflet, and we think
you’ll love it! Check it out and let us know what you think:
http://www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca/OntarioOption_0709_v3.pdf
Can you help us distribute them in central Toronto? We’re gearing up
for a fall by-election in St. Paul’s riding and we need lots of
bodies to help make nukes an election issue. Make democracy happen!
angela at cleanairalliance.org
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The two blows that killed the industry
Once-promising sector never lived up to its promise
No industry in history has held more promise, been more welcomed,
received more favours and failed more spectacularly than the
commercial nuclear power industry.
http://www.financialpost.com/opinion/story.html?
id=0436ed83-26ae-4b7f-8bd3-6897a45ac831
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Is it time to press reset on nuclear?
Cost overruns, delays in building reactors are sapping a nuclear revival
In a throwback to its tumultuous past, nuclear power is teetering on
the brink of renaissance or relapse, waffling between a return to its
golden age and a slow demise…
Shortly after the announcement of the Darlington delay,
Saskatchewan's Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd -- who is
considering a proposal for a nuclear reactor in Northern Saskatchewan
-- said Ontario's situation adds "additional questions about the
whole area of nuclear power." …
Said Energy Probe's Lawrence Solomon: "Better late than never to bail
out," he said. "This is a question of throwing more good money after
bad."
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1850679
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Nuclear summer
The much-heralded nuclear "renaissance" appears to have stalled this
summer, at least temporarily -- not because of unsettled questions
over the disposal of radioactive waste, or fear of nuclear accidents,
but because the costs of building new reactors is proving prohibitive.
That, at least, was Premier Dalton McGuinty's explanation for his
government's recent decision not to proceed with two new reactors for
Ontario's Darlington facility. They were expected to cost $6 billion;
the final tally from Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, the winning
bidder, was rumoured to be closer to $26 billion…
A related problem for nuclear-power advocates is waning political and
public support for AECL, flagship of Canada's state-supported nuclear
industry. After its costly failures at Chalk River, the ongoing
isotope crisis, and its difficulty finding buyers abroad for its
advanced CANDU, the Harper government is contemplating breaking up
AECL and selling off any marketable assets.
If Ontario decides not to buy an AECL reactor, the crown
corporation's prospects in other countries -- and Canada's foothold
in the global industry -- would be further imperiled. Aware of this,
McGuinty is pressing Ottawa to subsidize AECL's bid, in effect,
asking Canadian taxpayers to pay for Ontario's nuclear future. It
doesn't seem likely, given Harper's disdain for an agency regarded in
Tory circles as "a sinkhole."
Uncertainty over AECL's future could also threaten development of a
proposed second reactor at New Brunswick's Point Lepreau, the
province's energy minister, Jack Keir, said recently.
Elsewhere, while European governments move to embrace nuclear power
and memories of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl fade, the nuclear
revival is also running into practical roadblocks. Finland's attempt
to create a new reactor is three years behind schedule and 50 per
cent over budget. Plans to build two reactors in Texas have been
postponed. An accident at a German reactor days (ago) has revived
apprehensions…
Meanwhile, there is a window opening for renewables and less
controversial alternatives -- especially if some of the millions
invested in nuclear power were to be re-directed to green options,
energy efficiency and conservation…
But Amir Shalaby, vice-president of Ontario Power Authority, a
provincial oversight agency, doesn't sound pessimistic. In a recent
interview, he said the province can order more renewables, import
hydro power from Quebec, and find other ways of filling the void left
as aging reactors begin to shut down.
Years of fitful efforts at promoting conservation and efficiency
might also be paying off -- finally.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/fp/Nuclear+summer/1848047/
story.html
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Ontario 'scratching its head' over nuclear plan
One high-profile project on hold, another scrapped
The fate of nuclear energy in Ontario, once assured, appears more
ambiguous than ever after one high-profile project was recently put
on hold and another scrapped altogether…
According to the Ontario Power Authority's 2007 Integrated Power
System Plan, a 20-year blueprint currently under review, 8% of the
2025 grid is slated for green energy -- not including hydro -- while
nuclear generation will grow to 14,000 megawatts from its current
level of roughly 12,000.
For this to occur, all of the province's 16 reactors will have to be
refurbished or replaced, beginning with the oldest reactor at
Pickering-B before its slated retirement in 2014…
Last fall, Mr. Smitherman asked the OPA to revisit its plan with a
"view to establishing new targets" and "further enhancing its current
emphasis" on areas including the amount of renewable energy sources
in the supply mix…
Rosemary Yeremian, president of Strategic Insights, a market-research
firm that specializes in Canada's nuclear industry, said she has no
choice but to advise her energy-sector clients to consider
opportunities outside Ontario.
http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/story.html?id=1851190
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Canada's nuclear know-how in accelerated decay, scientists fear
Some believe the nuclear experts brought it on themselves. AECL built
two small Maple reactors on the Chalk River site that were supposed
to be capable of providing the world's entire supply of medical
isotopes.
After spending eight years and more than $600-million trying to get
them to work properly, AECL shuttered the Maples last year.
"The Canadian nuclear industry brought about its own end," said the
Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility's Mr. Edwards. "If they
can't build a small reactor, why should we give them another chance?
Maybe they should give it a rest."
The federal government apparently agrees. Two months ago, Prime
Minister Stephen Harper's chief spokesman referred to AECL as
"dysfunctional" and as a $30-billion "sinkhole."
Mr. Edwards suggests nuclear engineers pursue another line of work.
"There are over 100 plants around the world that need to be
decommissioned," he said. "And there is no established process for
doing it. Nobody wants to think of themselves as a garbage man, but
why not invest in the assured future of nuclear cleanup rather than
speculative future of nuclear energy?"
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadas-nuclear-know-how-
in-accelerated-decay-scientists-fear/article1246467/
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Race on in the Prairies to solve isotope shortage
The modest Manitoba initiative pales compared to Saskatchewan's plans
to build a whole new reactor, but the smaller operation could be up
and running inside three years, with little regulatory hassle, and
for the bargain-basement price of $35-million.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/race-on-in-the-prairies-
to-solve-isotope-shortage/article1236966/
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Nuclear suicide
Our best science now predicts that nuclear arsenals are fundamentally
incompatible with continued human existence.
http://www.sciencealert.com.au/opinions/20090208-19496.html
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Uranium travels nerves from nose to brain
Radioactive uranium that is inhaled by soldiers on the battlefield
and by workers in factories may bypass the brain's protective barrier
by following nerves from the nose directly to the brain.
http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/newscience/inhaled-uranium-
enters-brain-through-the-nose/
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Is Nuclear Power Renewable?
International Renewable Energy Agency Rejects 'Renewable Nuclear'
Category
"Many environmental groups are fundamentally opposed to the notion
that nuclear power is a renewable form of energy -- on the grounds
that it produces harmful waste byproducts and relies on extractive
industries to procure fuel like uranium.
Even so, the nuclear industry and pro-nuclear officials from
countries including France have been trying to brand the technology
as renewable, on the grounds that it produces little or no greenhouse
gases. Branding nuclear as renewable could also enable nuclear
operators to benefit from some of the same subsidies and friendly
policies offered to clean energies like wind, solar and biomass.
So far, however, efforts to categorize nuclear as a renewable source
of power are making little headway.
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/03/is-nuclear-power-renewable/
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Angela Bischoff
Campaign Manager
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402
Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela at cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
www.cleanairalliance.org
Our Facebook Group
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