Gordon Edwards and Greenpeace on Darlington Nuclear - Not Worth the Risk

Sat Sep 5 17:23:27 EDT 2015

From: Gordon Edwards [mailto:ccnr at web.ca] 
Sent: September 4, 2015 2:58 AM

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

Background                           September 4, 2015

The following Action Alert by Fawn Edwards of Greenpeace is deserving of
close attention.  It has to do with the proposed re-licencing of the four
large Darlington nuclear power reactors, following public hearings in
November.

While Ontario Power Generation (OPG) plans to permanently shut down the 8
nuclear reactors at Pickering by 2020, they are seeking an unprecedented
THIRTEEN-YEAR operating licence for the 4 nuclear reactors at Darlington.
The Darlington reactors -- the largest in Canada's nuclear fleet -- are
sited on the north shore of Lake Ontario, between Toronto and Port Hope.

The Darlington reactors are seriously degraded and will require extensive
rebuilding of the core and primary heat transport system to continue
operating -- a dirty and dangerous operation euphemistically called
"refurbishment" that will cost at least TEN BILLION dollars.   Thousands of
highly radioactive pressure tubes and calandria tubes will have to be
removed robotically and packaged for safe storage for a period of hundreds
of thousands of years, along with tens of kilometres of radioactively
contaminated "feeder pipes".  These dangerous radioactive wastes will be
trucked north to the shore of Lake Huron near Kincardine to join the growing
volumes of radioactive waste that are currently stored there.

Previous experience with refurbishment of CANDU reactors at other locations
in Ontario and New Brunswick has been characterized by years of delay and
billions of dollars in cost over-runs.  During a refurbishment operation at
the Bruce site, on the shore of Lake Huron, over 500 workers were exposed to
inhaling plutonium-contaminated airborne dust for over three weeks in 2009
due to the incompetence or disregard of overseers who neglected to provide
the men with respirators, failed to heed a radiation alarm, ignored company
records that plainly revealed the presence of such contamination in the
pipes that were being removed and subjected to a grinding operation, and
neglected to properly test the air for contamination.

Anyone can intervene in the November licensing hearings by sending in a
letter or a brief, with the option of appearing in person at the hearings
and making a 10-minute oral presentation.  It is even possible to testify by
telephone using a tele-conferencing setup that the Commission has made
available for intervenors; one only has to request it.

The Ontario Government, the sole owner of OPG, can decide not to refurbish
the Darlington reactors by instead buying replacement power, investing in
community-based energy conservation, and accelerating the installation of
alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, and industrial cogeneration
facilities.  The province of Quebec has a very large surplus of
water-generated hydropower at the present time and for the foreseeable
future, and calculations have shown that the entire output of the Darlington
reactors could be replaced if Ontario purchased excess power from Quebec at
a price that would be mutually advantageous to both provinces, and much less
expensive than the Darlington refurbishment option.

Although the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission staff promised to publish a
report outlining the consequences of a severe nuclear accident at Darlington
involving one, two, or all of the reactors there, they have instead produced
a report that describes a release of radioactivity that is ridiculously low
-- at least  10 to 100 times less than what would be reasonably anticipated
in the event of a severe nuclear accident.  By misrepresenting the amount of
radioactivity that could be released in such circumstances, the CNSC staff
is misleading the public and government authorities who are responsible for
putting in place emergency planning measures needed to cope with the
aftermath of such a severe nuclear accident.

The IAEA recently published a report on the Fukushima triple meltdown in
Japan.  The following paragraph, taken from the first page of the IAEA
report, is particularly applicable to the arrogant attitude of Canadian
nuclear authorities who simply do not want to communicate to the public and
to decision makers the results of their own internal calculations.

"A major factor that contributed to the accident was the widespread
assumption in Japan that its nuclear power plants were so safe that an
accident of this magnitude was simply unthinkable. This assumption was
accepted by nuclear power plant operators and was not challenged by
regulators or by the Government. As a result, Japan was not sufficiently
prepared for a severe nuclear accident in March 2011."  [2015 Report of the
IAEA, Foreword, written by the IAEA Director General,]

Gordon Edwards.

==========================

<http://stopdarlington.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1f56140e2b9b05de279
603be7&id=197ecec859&e=88a9d3bb3c> 

Dear friend,

With the hearings into the future of the Darlington nuclear reactors fast
approaching, there's never been a more crucial time to take action.

Here are four concrete things you can do right now to tell the nuclear
industry, the media, and government leaders that we don't need Darlington:

<http://stopdarlington.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=1f56140e2b9b05de27
9603be7&id=749072ef31&e=88a9d3bb3c> 

SPEAK UP
at the Darlington hearings this November.
<http://stopdarlington.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1f56140e2b9b05de279
603be7&id=5a8c7a3cf9&e=88a9d3bb3c> Sign up here to learn how your voice can
be heard.

<http://stopdarlington.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1f56140e2b9b05de279
603be7&id=97dbc199e6&e=88a9d3bb3c> 

READ & SHARE
Shawn-Patrick Stensil's new blog,
<http://stopdarlington.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1f56140e2b9b05de279
603be7&id=1f5a79a6b9&e=88a9d3bb3c> Darlington: It's Not Worth the Risk.

<http://stopdarlington.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=1f56140e2b9b05de27
9603be7&id=bd631e231c&e=88a9d3bb3c> 

RIDE WITH US
On Sept. 13-- and share
<http://stopdarlington.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1f56140e2b9b05de279
603be7&id=084cee3177&e=88a9d3bb3c> this blog with your networks so they can
join us on the Ride for Renewables too.

<http://stopdarlington.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1f56140e2b9b05de279
603be7&id=78037d29b9&e=88a9d3bb3c> 

LEARN EVEN MORE
Come out to Durham Nuclear Awareness'
<http://stopdarlington.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1f56140e2b9b05de279
603be7&id=9c0d9c20f6&e=88a9d3bb3c> panel discussionon Sept. 17.

Canada's nuclear industry is cunning-- and the Commission that's supposed to
protect us from them is shrewder still.

Standing up to them, and to the leaders who have handed them their power, is
no small feat-- and they may not want to hear what we have to say.

But if countless citizens like you and I demand accountability, even if the
people we demand it from won't listen, others might.

Like Premier Wynne, who decides where Ontario's energy comes from.

Or the media, who have the power to amplify our message a hundredfold.

That's why I'm determined to have my say at the hearings into the future of
Darlington, and it's why you should too. I'll even send you everything you
need to write a letter or make a presentation at the hearings.

What do you say? Will you speak out too? Please
<http://stopdarlington.us2.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=1f56140e2b9b05de27
9603be7&id=08725035e6&e=88a9d3bb3c> sign up now.

In solidarity,

Fawn Edwards
Energy Mobilization Campaigner
Greenpeace Canada

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