No Nukes News: Used nuclear company no bargain

Tue Jan 25 14:03:20 EST 2011

No Nukes News

Jan. 25, 2011

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Used nuclear company is no bargain

Toronto Star Op Ed piece by Jack Gibbons, Ontario Clean Air Alliance

Hey buddy, want to buy a used nuclear company? Sure, there’s a huge pile of
debt under the hood and nobody will buy its products without massive
taxpayer handouts, but there might be a few miles left in fixing crumbling
reactors in Ontario and if it could ever get that New Brunswick job finished
that would be one less anchor tied to the back bumper

Sometimes, it seems like our politicians are intent on dragging our
electricity system back to the 1950s, when now laughable claims about “too
cheap to meter” nuclear power were all the rage. Nostalgia is one thing, but
the reality is that we have a huge array of cheaper options that don’t come
with that all that nasty baggage of million-year-active radioactive waste
and being a giant bull’s eye for terrorists.

Let’s move on and finish the job of building a clean, modern electricity
system in Ontario.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorialopinion/article/927373--used-nuclear
-company-is-no-bargain

Don't abandon Canada's stake

Toronto Star Editorial

Is Canada prepared to let our nuclear industry wither away, along with the
$6.6 billion and 30,000 jobs it generates directly for the economy?

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/article/927397--don-t-abandon-cana
da-s-stake

ACTION: Please write a letter to the editor of the Toronto Star. Tell them
what you think – should Canadian taxpayers continue to subsidize our AECL
boondoogle?  lettertoed at thestar.ca

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Stop Darlington!

Ontario is planning to spend $36 billion to build new reactors at the
Darlington nuclear station just east of Toronto. This plan drains funding
from affordable green energy and creates radioactive waste, emissions and
increased risk of accidents. Let’s make Ontario 100% renewable! Investing in
a diverse mix of conservation and efficiency combined with wind, solar, and
hydro electric generation allows lets us avoid the long-term danger and
expense of risky nuclear. Excellent resources here:

http://stopdarlington.org/ 

And if you’re on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stop-Darlington/154293134613131

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Deadline: Darlington
January 31st Workshop - February 21st* Deadline for Written Submissions 

A public hearing has been announced for March 2011 on a proposal to build up
to four new nuclear reactors at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, with
a February 21st* deadline for written submissions. 

To support participants in preparing their written or oral submissions a
preparatory workshop will be held to share information about key issues and
strategies for presentation and brief-writing. 

Toronto - Monday, January 31st, 7 pm
OISE, 7th Floor, Peace Lounge, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto

The workshop will include: 

*	brief presentation of key issues and associated information sources 
*	outline of strategies for presentation and preparation of written
submissions 
*	presentation of a "model" written submission 
*	group discussion and break-out groups as needed to support 

A brief overview of the proposal by Ontario Power Generation to build
additional reactors at Darlington and an explanation of the hearing rules
and timeline will also be available with an opportunity for question and
answers on the review process and OPG proposal.

For more information email nukes at onlink.net or telephone 1 877 553 0481.

* The deadline for written submission  has been extended from February 14th
to February 21st.

Please note that this workshop is being provided by public interest groups
working together to support public participation. The workshop is not being
provided by the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, the Canadian
Nuclear Safety Commission or Ontario Power Generation. 

Background
The Ontario Government plans to build up to four new nuclear reactors at the
site of the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station near Oshawa, 60 km east of
Toronto, at an estimated cost of $36 billion. 

A joint panel appointed over a year ago to conduct an environmental review
of the proposal announced on December 14th that the public hearing will
begin March 21st, 2011. The panel has declared that anyone wanting to speak
at the hearing or provide written comments (or both) was required to
register their intention to do so by January 13th.Written submissions must
be filed by February 21st, and any visual (such as powerpoint presentations,
slideshows, etc.) by March 9th.

If you missed the January 13th deadline to register but would like to
participate in this review contact the Hearing Secretariat immediately:
1-866-582-1884 or darlington.review at ceaa-acee.gc.ca 

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 <http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/active/0/NuclearHandout_v5.pdf> FREE
Anti-Nuke Postcards!

Stop a $35 Billion Nuclear Handout: No More Blank Cheques for Ontario Power
Generation and its Darlington Nuclear Station
<http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/active/0/NuclearHandout_v5.pdf> . 

 <http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/active/0/NuclearHandout_v5.pdf> They
contain postcards addressed to Premier McGuinty and the Leader of the
Opposition Tim Hudak. Order FREE copies here.  Give them to your friends,
neighbours, local coffee shops, etc. Help get the word out that there are
lower cost and safer ways to meet all our electricity needs without
investing tens of billions of $$ in nuclear energy.  

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The Nuclear Blowout over AECL

AECL, a cash drain, is therefore caught between two levels of government
that are trying to either get out of the business of supplying more
subsidies to a money-losing operation or are trying to get their hands on
electricity at lower cost. For Ontario, which is currently paying up to 80¢
a kilowatt hour for green energy, it will be hard to sell new
multi-billion-dollar liabilities to citizens. If TransCanada and OMERS don't
want the risk, why should ratepayers take on even more? 

http://www.financialpost.com/opinion/columnists/nuclear+blowout+over+AECL/41
35802/story.html

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AECL's uncertain future ushers in unrest for Canada’s nuclear industry

SNC-Lavalin sole remaining bidder for Crown-owned atomic energy outfit after
Ontario's Bruce Power drops out

http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20110118.escenic_1875177/B
NStory/Other/

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Province's energy plan gets nuked

News that both SNC Lavalin and Bruce Power may have dropped out of the
bidding for troubled Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) leaves a gaping
hole in the province's energy plans. 

http://www.thewhig.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2935770 

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Battle of the Grids

Clash between renewables, coal and nuclear set to grow – new Greenpeace
Internat. report

http://www.greenpeace.org/eu-unit/press-centre/press-releases2/battle-of-the
-grids-2011-1-18#

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Nuclear power is not “emissions-free”

Nuclear power plants are not “emissions-free”. In 2010, Advertising
Standards Canada formally decided that ads making this claim were
inaccurate, unsupported, and misleading.

ASC’s decision was based, in part, on documentation proving that CANDU
reactors at nuclear plants such as the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station
emit many different contaminants: 2-propenoic acid, ammonia, aromatic
hydrocarbon resin, benzene, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrazine,
morpholine, nitrogen oxides, phosphoric acid, quarterly ammonium compounds,
sulphur dioxide, suspended particulate matter, total hydrocarbons, as well
as tritium.

http://www.waterkeeper.ca/2011/01/17/nuclear-power-is-not-emissions-free-cor
rection-request/

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Storm knocks open ship´s uranium drums forcing emergency return to BC

A Canadian cargo ship carrying uranium headed for China had to make an
emergency return trip after a storm knocked open two containers of the
radioactive compound. 

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/01/17/storm-knocks-open-ships-uranium-drum
s-forcing-emergency-return-to-b-c/

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Nuclear shipment decision delayed 

http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true
<http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?archive=true&e=2939140>
&e=2939140

<http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20110122/NEWS01/101220309/Nuclear-shi
pment-decision-delayed>
http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20110122/NEWS01/101220309/Nuclear-ship
ment-decision-delayed

Both the Sarnia Observer and the Port Huron Times Herald recently published
articles regarding the delay on the decision regarding the proposal to
transport radioactive steam generators through the Great Lakes and St.
Lawrence Seaway, across the Atlantic to Sweden, where part of the
contaminated metal would be mixed with clean metal and sold unlabeled and
without consumer consent into the global metal supply. 

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Pointless Lepreau Reappears in New Brunswick

White Elephant Symbolizes What the Province Doesn’t Want to Talk About

Today, costs for the touch-and-go overhaul are already over $1.4 billion.
The latest guess at a completion date is May 2012, a delay of almost three
years.

 <http://nuclearfreenb.org/> http://nuclearfreenb.org/

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Lets kick start 2011 by getting the government to end tax breaks to dirty
fuels!

We are only weeks away from the 2011 federal budget and the federal
government continues to give billions of dollars in tax breaks to the
companies producing oil and gas in Canada. Analysis
<http://www.globalsubsidies.org/files/assets/synthesis_ffs.pdf>  shows a
total of $1.4 billion per year in federal tax breaks alone, with a
disproportionate share going to dirty fuels such as the Alberta Tar Sands.

Lets find out where every MP in the country stands on this issue and make
sure we are putting pressure on in the right places.

The first step is easy – Call, e-mail, or meet with your MP and find out one
simple thing: do they support ending the giveaway of over a billion dollars
a year to oil companies?

The second step is even easier – let us know where your MP stands by sending
us an email <mailto:cjohn at climateactionnetwork.ca> , and let others know how
it went on our Facebook page
<http://www.facebook.com/climate.action.network.canada#%21/climate.action.ne
twork.canada> . From here we can build a map and figure out where we need
the most pressure. 

For more information on the federal government’s tax breaks to dirty fuels:

1.     Climate Action Network Canada’s report: Fuelling the Problem, why it
is time to end tax breaks to oil and gas companies in Canada
<http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/e/publications/fuelling-the-problem-clim
ate-action-network-canada.pdf> 

2.     An open letter to PM Harper and Minister Flaherty
<http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/e/issues/ocg-2010/>  calling for an end
to tax breaks to dirty fuels

Please pass this on to your lists and friends!

Here are a few helpful lines:

End subsidies for dirty fuels!

Canadian companies in the business of extracting oil made billions of
dollars in profit last year. So why does our government annually give the
fossil fuel industry $1 billion?

If lawmakers in Ottawa are looking for ways to reduce spending, it seems
that subsidies to the oil, coal and gas industries are the best place to
start.

Scientists are warning that we face disastrous consequences unless we reduce
greenhouse gas emissions that come from burning fossil fuels. By subsidizing
the fossil fuel industry, the Canadian government is delaying the conversion
to clean energy that’s needed to stabilize the Earth’s climate.

Canadian taxpayers should not be giving money to highly profitable
corporations. When the federal government passes a new budget in March,
these subsidies for dirty fuels must come to an end. By doing so, Canada
will meet its 2009 commitment made in Pittsburgh, along with other G20
leaders, to phase out subsidies and tax breaks to companies producing oil,
gas and coal.

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Geothermal energy: All the benefits of nuclear - but none of the problems

It runs 24 hours a day, so perfect for baseload. The water circulates in a
closed-loop, so it's clean and sustainable. It is virtually zero carbon and
the plants have a small surface footprint, so it's pretty nimby-proof. 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/jan/18/geo
thermal-energy-nuclear

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Political Change for a Climate in Crisis

Town Hall - political experts on political solutions to a climate in crisis.

Wed. Jan 26, 7:-9:00 pm 

Trinity St Paul Centre, 427 Bloor St. W., Toronto

Speakers: Glen Murray, MPP, minister of research and innovation; Lynn
McDonald, former MP and NDP environment critic; Peter Russell, constitution
expert

Organized by JustEarth - a coalition for environmental justice

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Powering the Future in a Finite World

With David Hughes 

Thursday, February 3, 7:00 PM 

Toronto City Hall, Cttee. Rm. 2

David Hughes is a geoscientist who has studied the energy resources of
Canada for nearly four decades, including 32 years with the Geological
Survey of Canada as a scientist and research manager. He developed the
National Coal Inventory to determine the availability and environmental
constraints associated with Canada’s coal resources. As Team Leader for
Unconventional Gas on the Canadian Gas Potential Committee, he coordinated
the recent publication of a comprehensive assessment of Canada’s
unconventional natural gas potential. Over the past decade, he has
researched, published and lectured widely on global energy and
sustainability issues in North America and internationally. He is a Fellow
of the Post Carbon Institute and his work has been featured in the popular
press (Canadian Business, Walrus etc.) and other public media. He is
currently president of Global Sustainability Research Inc, a consultancy
dedicated to research on energy and sustainability issues. 

RSVP to this Meetup: 
http://www.meetup.com/PostCarbonTorontoMeetup/calendar/15976138/ 

To visit Post Carbon Toronto MeetUp, go here:
http://www.meetup.com/PostCarbonTorontoMeetup/ 

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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/>  

Our Facebook Group

 <http://www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca/petition.php> Sign Our Petition

 <http://www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca/nonukesnews.php> No Nukes News

 <http://www.healthpower.ca/> Health Power

 <http://coalmustgo.ca/> Coal Must Go

  <http://cleanairalliance.org/get_involved_donate> 

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