No Nukes News: Nuke Heavy Energy Plan - 30 second actions
Angela Bischoff-OCAA
angela at cleanairalliance.org
Tue Nov 30 15:11:48 EST 2010
No Nukes News
Nov. 30, 2010
Pass this onto a friend! - a
"The McGuinty Liberals are sacrificing cost-efficient options such as
conservation, emerging renewable technologies, and cogeneration for nuclear
power," said Tabuns. "The McGuinty government says its plan is about
creating a clean and healthy future for families, but it is really about
dumping a legacy of nuclear debt and radioactive waste on future
generations." - Peter Tabuns, NDP Energy Critic in reference to the
McGuinty's new energy plan
Description: cid:image004.jpg at 01CB9093.D61D7C80
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30 second Action 1: Do you support the Liberals's nuclear expansion plans?
Vote in Now Magazine's poll. http://now.uz/dONlQq
30 second Action 2: <http://www.cleanairalliance.org/letter_to_dalton2>
Click here to send an email to Premier McGuinty. Congratulate him on
speeding up the coal phase-out, but please also tell him that you don't want
Ontario to spend $83 billion or more on risky nuclear. Tell him that we can
keep our lights on at a lower cost with a combination of energy conservation
and efficiency, water power from Quebec and small-scale, high-efficiency
combined heat and power plants.
Thank you for helping shift Ontario's energy policy.
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Nuclear heavy energy plan will double residential electricity bills -
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
The McGuinty Government released their new 20-year electricity plan today.
This plan is a big slice of "Back to the future" with a major emphasis on
costly, risky and completely unnecessary nuclear projects.
Here are its key features:
Coal phase-out
The good news: The Government of Ontario is speeding up the coal phase-out.
- 2 of Nanticoke's 6 remaining coal boilers will be shut down in
2011.
- The Atikokan coal plant will be converted to biomass by 2013.
- The Thunder Bay coal plant will be converted to run on natural
gas and potentially also biomass.
- The Government will make a decision in 2012 on the conversion of
some or all of the remaining coal units at Nanticoke and Lambton to natural
gas.
These are important steps in the right direction given that Ontario has more
than enough generation available to end coal use now.
Nuclear
- The Government plans to move forward with re-building the aging
Darlington and Bruce Nuclear Stations and building two new nuclear reactors
at Darlington.
- According to the Government, its nuclear plan will cost $33
billion. However, every nuclear project in Ontario's history has gone
massively over budget - on average by 2.5 times. Therefore the real cost of
McGuinty's nuclear plan will almost certainly be $83 billion or more. That
means the total cost of McGuinty's 20 year electricity plan will be $137
billion or more.
- According to McGuinty's plan, in 2030 Ontario will obtain 55% of
its electricity from costly nuclear power.
Conservation
Ontario's demand for electricity has fallen by 7% since 2006, yet our
electricity consumption per person is still 35% higher than New York
State's. But instead of ramping up conservation efforts to cut waste and
improve efficiency, the McGuinty plan calls for a massive supply increase -
Ontario's total electricity generation capacity in 2030 (40,900 MW) will be
63% greater than our peak demand in 2010. Apparently, the Premier has
little faith in his government's ability to truly create "a culture of
conservation."
Green Energy
According to the McGuinty Plan, wind, solar and bio-energy will provide
Ontario with 15% of its electricity supply in 2030, up from up from 3%
today.
New Peaker Plant for Kitchener-Waterloo
The McGuinty Plan calls for the construction of a large new, inefficient
gas-fired peaker plant in Kitchener-Waterloo despite the fact that the
region's electricity needs can be met at a much lower cost with an
integrated combination of energy efficiency, demand response and combined
heat and power. Will it be Oakville all over again?
Combined Heat and Power
The McGuinty Plan directs the Ontario Power Authority to establish a
combined heat and power (CHP) standard offer program for projects of 20 MW
or less. However, new CHP procurement is capped at approximately 500 MW
despite the fact that its cost per kWh is less than one-third that of new
nuclear and Ontario's total CHP potential is greater than 11,000 MW. Why
are we artificially capping cleaner, safer power sources?
Our Conclusion
The McGuinty Government's plan will double residential hydro bills over the
next 20 years to pay for high-cost new nuclear power. This doesn't make
sense. Ontario's electricity needs can be met at a much lower cost with an
integrated combination of energy conservation and efficiency, water power
imports from Quebec, and small-scale, high-efficiency combined heat and
power plants.
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The ON Ministry of Energy is seeking your input and response to their new
energy plan
Review the gov't's proposal here, and then submit your comments by clicking
on the "submit comment" button on the right. Deadline for comments is Jan 7,
2011. All comments will be considered as part of the decision-making
process by the Ministry of Energy.
http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/displaynoticecontent.do?noticeId=M
TExNDIz
<http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/displaynoticecontent.do?noticeId=
MTExNDIz&statusId=MTY3MTY0&language=en> &statusId=MTY3MTY0&language=en
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Government underestimating hydro bill increase, critics say
The McGuinty government is low-balling the cost of modernizing Ontario's
fleet of nuclear reactors, critics say, calling into question its own
projection that consumers' hydro bills will double by 2030. The government
pegs the cost of building two new reactors and refurbishing 10 existing
units at $33-billion in its long-term energy plan released on Tuesday. But
opposition members and industry observers said the figure is not realistic.
For starters, they said, the government shelved a deal to build two reactors
last year, citing the exorbitant price tag of $26-billion. As well, they
said, the refit of two mothballed reactors at the Bruce Power nuclear
station on Lake Huron is now likely to be $4.8-billion, $2-billion more than
the original estimate.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ontario-underestimating-hydro-b
ill-increase-critics-say/article1810440/
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Billions for green energy
Jack Gibbons, chair of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, says that bio-mass
and wind power are still likely to be less expensive than rebuilding nuclear
facilities, although conservation and efficiency are the best ways to solve
energy issues.
But he said in an interview that Quebec produces huge amounts of renewable
power from its hydro-electric plants: "In terms of new renewable, water
power imports from Quebec are lower cost than any of the made in Ontario
options." That would have to be negotiated with Quebec, but Gibbons says
Ontario should take the initiative. "It's low-cost, it's very reliable, it's
a base load supply of power, it's not intermittent," he said.
http://www.thestar.com/business/cleanbreak/article/896281--billions-for-gree
n-energy
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Healthy wind blows away toxic coal
This week's release of Ontario's long-term electricity plan raises anew the
debate about coal and renewables' impact on health and the environment. But
in the midst of this ruckus, there's an often-missed and very important
distinction to be made: Coal plants are inherently harmful while wind
turbines are not.
A speedy end to coal would be Ontario's gift to the world, the single
largest GHG reduction project in North America and a powerful precedent
capable of pushing other jurisdictions into action.
http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/897100--healthy-wind
-blows-away-toxic-coal
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100th Anniversary of Ontario's Electrical "Switch On"
For all his flaws, Adam Beck built an engineering marvel at Niagara which
has produced pristine, 24/7 power since 1921. Some fought that project
fiercely. Some predicted it would bankrupt the province. Rival politicians
condemned it as a reckless descent into 'socialism'. Today, we can bless
Beck's dynamic vision. It brought Ontario the cheapest, cleanest, most
reliable power on the Planet.
By contrast, our generation's public utility will leave behind some 40,000
tonnes of OPG nuclear wastes that will remain latently lethal for centuries,
and a related fiscal time-bomb for entombing retired reactors, for which we
are likely to be cursed.
If it takes investing in 21st Century green power at an added cost of a few
bucks more per household each month, and sucking up our own failure to pay
for past mistakes, perhaps it's time to start paying these debts forward.
I will leave you with a final question: What do you imagine our
grandchildren might implore us to do if they could?
Read the full text of this FANTASTIC speech about Ontario's electricity
history given at the Community Power Conference
<http://www.ontario-sea.org/> by Paul McKay, author of Atomic Accomplice
<http://paulmckay.com/> : http://cpconference.ca/Page.asp?PageID=924
<http://cpconference.ca/Page.asp?PageID=924&ContentID=2830> &ContentID=2830
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Visiting doctors speak on the dangers of uranium
Impact on the environment, Inuit way of life and NTI policies discussed
http://nnsl.com/northern-news-services/stories/papers/nov26_10ura-nun.html
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If the $30 Billion We Give Oil Sands Went to Green Energy
What could Canada achieve then? Here's the jaw-dropping answer.
$30 billion in public money spent burning natural gas in the oil sands this
decade could instead incentivize more than 80,000 MW of new renewable
generation capacity -- about 60 per cent
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Canada#Nameplate_Capacit
y> of all electricity sources in the country combined.
http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2010/11/26/30BillionToGreen/
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South Korea considers return of US tactical nuclear weapons
South Korea's defence minister today raised the possibility that US nuclear
weapons <http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/nuclear-weapons> could be deployed
in his country for the first time in nearly 20 years, after it was revealed
that Pyongyang had built an advanced uranium enrichment plant
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/22/north-korea-nuclear-plant-crisi
s> .
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/22/south-korea-us-tactical-weapons-
nuclear
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GREEN SCREENS presents:
UP THE YANGTZE
Wednesday December 1 at 7pm, FREE
National Film Board, 150 John St (at Richmond St W), Toronto
A luxury cruise boat motors up the Yangtze - navigating the mythic waterway
known in China simply as "The River." The Yangtze is about to be transformed
by the biggest hydroelectric dam in history. The Three Gorges Dam -
contested symbol of the Chinese economic miracle - provides the epic
backdrop for <http://films.nfb.ca/up-the-yangtze/> Up the Yangtze, a
dramatic feature documentary on life inside the 21st century Chinese dream.
Watch the trailer: http://films.nfb.ca/up-the-yangtze/
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Countdown to Zero
A 2010 documentary about the escalating nuclear arms race.
Thursday, December 2, 7 pm
Revue Cinema, 400 Roncesvalles Avenue (Dundas West subway station), Toronto
$10 adult or pay what you can/ $5 student or pwyc
Watch the trailer here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1572769/
This screening is a fundraiser for a local group, Seriously, Time to Stop,
which is raising awareness about nuclear weapons through presentations to
high school students and video contests. For more information: 416 532 5697
contact at seriouslytimetostop.com
<https://mail.chem.utoronto.ca/horde/imp/message.php?mailbox=Sent&index=404>
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Angela Bischoff
Outreach Director
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 <http://www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca/>
www.cleanairalliance.org <http://www.cleanairalliance.org/>
<http://www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca/nonukesnews.php> No Nukes News
<http://www.healthpower.ca/> Health Power
<http://coalmustgo.ca/> Coal Must Go
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