No Nukes News: scandals and priorities

Fri Nov 20 20:27:11 EST 2009

No Nukes News

Nov. 20 /09

To read past No Nukes News, or if this newsletter gets cut off before the
signature, go to: http://www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca/nonukesnews.php 

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Nukes - a spending scandal in the making?

In June 2009 former Energy Minister George Smitherman suspended the
procurement process for two new nuclear reactors when Atomic Energy of
Canada's bid came in at $26 billion - 3.7 times the Ontario Power
Authority's (OPA's) forecast.

Nevertheless, according to the OPA's recently released 2010-2012
<http://www.powerauthority.on.ca/Page.asp?PageID=122&ContentID=7104&SiteNode
ID=139&BL_ExpandID=>  Business Plan, the McGuinty Government is still
committed to contracting for two new nuclear reactors at the Darlington
Nuclear Station (2,400 MW) and the refurbishment of the Bruce B Nuclear
Generating Station (3,300 MW) 

According to the OPA's Business Plan, 50% of the new supply that it will
contract for between 2010 and 2012 will be nuclear.

1-Minute Action:  Please email
<https://www.premier.gov.on.ca/feedback/feedback.asp?Lang=EN>  Premier
McGuinty and tell him:  Ontario's taxpayers cannot afford another government
boondoggle. There is no need for the OPA to contract for new nuclear
projects. Ontario can meet its electricity needs at a much
<http://www.cleanairalliance.org/files/active/0/replacingnuclear.pdf>  lower
cost by a combination of energy conservation and efficiency, wind power,
water power imports from Quebec, and by converting our apartment buildings,
shopping centres, hospitals and factories into small scale but highly
efficient combined heat and power plants. Protect Ontario's electricity
consumers and taxpayers from high-cost and unreliable new nuclear power
projects!

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ON still has the hots for the nuclear option

Leaving aside the potential dangers inherent with nuclear plants and the
waste they generate, there's a pragmatic argument to be made in favour of
alternatives simply based on cost. Nuclear plants have always come in way
over budget, underperformed and then required billions in refurbishing
expenses.

Alternative energy supplies and a push toward conservation would be more
effective and far cheaper than the nuclear option. With greater
efficiencies, we could reduce overall demand by as much as 50 per cent by
the time many of Ontario's aging reactors reach the end of their lifespans
in 2021, says Jack Gibbons of the OCAA.

 "We have to focus on the lowest-cost options if we are going to act quickly
and meet the province's target of an 80 per cent reduction in greenhouse
gases by 2050. We can't afford to continue to waste money on projects that
don't work."

As well, a decentralized approach would see far more economic benefits.
Small projects to upgrade insulation values and make homes more efficient,
for instance, would provide local jobs in communities across the province.
Small co-generation projects would spread the work, and provide for a more
reliable network. None of those upsides exist with huge, centralized nuclear
plants.

http://observerxtra.com/2/news/province-still-has-the-hots-for-the-nuclear-o
ption/ 

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Hankering to rid the province of our nuke plants once and for all? 

Volunteer with the Ontario Clean Air Alliance!

Find out more:

Thur. Nov. 26, 6 - 7 p.m.

519 Church St. Community Centre (at Wellesley), Toronto

For more info: angela at cleanairalliance.org

Ontariosgreenfuture.ca <http://www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca/> 

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Nuclear Industry Flooding Canada with Radioactive Tritium

Canadians should be concerned about birth defects and cancers caused by
radioactive tritium in their drinking water according to
<http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/tritium_report.shtml> Tritium on Tap, a
report by Sierra Club Canada. The report also notes that routine and
accidental releases of tritium are rising.

http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/media/item.shtml?x=3017 

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Ottawa boosting liability limit for nuclear companies 

Claims will now top out at $650-million, up from the previous $75-million
ceiling 

The compensation figure, contained in a bill now before Parliament, is much
less than amounts in some other countries, including the United States,
Japan and Germany. Reactors in the U.S. have a call on about $10-billion to
cover accidents, the Japanese have about $1.4-billion and the Germans have
unlimited liability.

Shawn Patrick Stensil, Greenpeace, contended that because nuclear plant
operators have a relatively low limit on the amount of insurance they need
to cover accidents, they are able to sell power at rates that do not reflect
the true costs of generating it. It is special treatment that isn't
available to other industries. "This is a huge hidden subsidy," he said of
the damage cap of $650-million.

Greenpeace issued a report this week estimating there would be about
$50-billion in health damages from a worst-case accident at just one of
Ontario's Bruce stations, located on a relatively isolated section of Lake
Huron.

<http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ottawa-boosting-liability-limi
t-for-nuclear-companies/article1370605/>
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ottawa-boosting-liability-limit
-for-nuclear-companies/article1370605/ 

Greenpeace's report and blog: Towards full liability for nuclear power plant
operators

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/end-the-nuclear-threat/what-we
-do/nuclear_liability_compensation_act

http://blogs.greenpeace.ca/?p=2163 

Note: The nuclear industry is the only enterprise in North America that
requires special legislation to protect it from financial liability in case
of an "accident".  -a

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For a nuclear deal, PM goes to explosive lengths

Does Canada really want to help sell nuclear technology to a country that is
in the midst of such a volatile region, a country that in the 1970s
appropriated our first foray into building Indian nuclear reactors to help
fashion nuclear weapons, a country whose nuclear reactors would be an ideal
ground zero for jihadists? 

Mr. Harper certainly thinks so. 

http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20091118.IBBITSON18ART2311/T
PStory/TPNational/ 

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Harper should not sell nuke reactors to India because.

Watch Gordon Edwards (Canadian nuclear analyst) nail Canada for aiming to
sell nuclear reactors to India, a country that refuses to sign onto the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

"To negotiate with India as if India was a full party to the
Non-Proliferation Treaty when they have never signed it, the Harper
administration is apparently willing to give India all the benefits of
membership without actually requiring anything from them, not even requiring
them to sign the treaty, not requiring them to forgo their nuclear weapons,
not even requiring them to prevent building new nuclear weapons. This is a
terrible signal to be sending to the rest of the world. It really
underscores a sense of hypocrisy." And it will undermine an already
vulnerable Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty. 

Click on this link, and then the button to the right with Gordon Edward's
name. It's a 3 minute clip:

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20091118/harper_india_09
1118/20091118?hub=TopStoriesV2 

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National Post Op Ed: Sell AECL to India 

Canada wants to sell CANDU nuclear reactors to India. 

A better idea is to sell India the whole company

http://www.nationalpost.com/scripts/story.html?id=2245156

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Why the dog of a nuclear deal with India didn't bark

The trip that was supposed to complete a nuclear technology transfer
agreement and an accord protecting foreign investment produced zilch.  

AECL then needs to win the Ontario contract for new reactors. Although the
province chose AECL's new reactor over foreign bidders, the government said
the price was way too high and is seeking federal financial help. It is also
pondering whether, with new forecasts for big surpluses in natural gas in
North America, nuclear is too expensive and risky anyway. 

In which case, AECL would be finished, because refurbishing its reactors in
Ontario and New Brunswick is over-budget, its Maple reactors do not work,
the Chalk River reactor broke down and AECL's new reactor won't have been
sold anywhere in the world. 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/why-the-dog-of-a-nuclear-deal-w
ith-india-didnt-bark/article1370370/ 

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Nuclear power: less effective than energy efficiency and renewable energy?

If the U.S. wants to help stop global warming, nuclear power is not the way
to go, according to a new report released today.

The Environment California Research & Policy Center concluded that launching
a nuclear power industry nearly from the ground up is too slow and expensive
a process. Energy efficiency standards and renewable energy options are
better solutions, researchers said.

And given the costs of running a power plant, clean energy could deliver
five times as much progress per dollar in lowering pollution.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/11/nuclear-paower-less-effec
tive-in-american-than-energy-efficiency-and-renewable-energy-says-report.htm
l

http://bayarea.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/18/group-says-nuclear-power-hurts-c
limate-change-efforts/

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Self-imposed deadline looms for gov't on nuclear plant

The Sask. Party government's initial strong interest in nuclear power has
seemed to cool of late, especially since the September release of the report
into public consultations on the UDP, which found strong opposition to
nuclear power from respondents. 

Both Boyd and Premier Brad Wall have cited the cost of nuclear power as an
increasing concern for the province. 

http://www.oci-aic.org/index.asp?pid=5
<http://www.oci-aic.org/index.asp?pid=5&spid=view&linkid=59>
&spid=view&linkid=59 

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Greenpeace: French Nuclear Madness won't save the climate

16 November, Baltic Sea:  Today six activists from the Greenpeace ship
Arctic Sunrise boarded the cargo ship Happy Ranger in the Fehmarn Belt
between Denmark and Germany. The activists are carrying banners reading
"Nuclear Madness, made in France". The ship is carrying steam turbines
supplied by the French nuclear company AREVA to the Olkiluoto 3 nuclear
reactor currently under construction in Finland.

http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/releases/french-nuclear-madnes
s-won-t-s

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Nuclear disposal put in doubt by recovered Swedish galleon

The plan to use copper for sealing nuclear waste underground has being
thrown into disarray by corrosion in artifacts from the Vasa

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/14/copper-nuclear-containment
-vasa-sweden

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Setting the agenda for Ontario's environment 

Build Ontario economic recovery by leading global warming action 

As the eyes of the world turn to the UN Climate Change Conference in
Copenhagen, Ontario must be ready with a strong carbon cap- and-trade plan
that will reduce global warming pollution and make the province competitive
in a world where action on climate change is the new bottom line, say 23 of
the province's environmental organizations. 

www.greenprosperity.ca <http://www.greenprosperity.ca/>  

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Nuclear scars: Tainted water runs beneath Nevada desert

The state faces a water crisis and population boom, but radioactive waste
from the Nevada Test Site has polluted aquifers.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-radiation-nevada13-2009
nov13,0,3201021,full.story

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Pajama Walk for Peace and Nonviolence

Saturday November 21st, 12:00 noon, meet at Yonge and Bloor, Toronto

More than 23,000 nuclear weapons worldwide threaten all Life on earth. 1 in
6 people face malnutrition everyday. And military spending is higher than
ever. It's...

TIME TO WAKE UP!

*March in your pajamas!

*Bring alarm clocks, bells, whistles, pots and pans, banners.

*Walk to the Peace Garden, Nathan Phillips Square.

A part of Canada's World March Days.

Info: info at worldmarch.ca / http://www.worldmarch.ca/ 

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Don't Nuke the Climate!

Sign the petition and send it to your friends.

Under the current Kyoto Protocol, nuclear energy is rightly excluded from
the possible solutions available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the
nuclear industry, in collaboration with certain countries, is pushing for
this dangerous and polluting technology to be included in the Copenhagen
climate agreement as a "clean" technology.

Already we have collected 31,000 signatories... Help us reach out to a lot
more people! Sign and send the petition to all your friends. Contribute to
the fight for the climate and for a nuclear-free world:

http://www.dont-nuke-the-climate.org/spip.php?page=petition
<http://www.dont-nuke-the-climate.org/spip.php?page=petition&lang=en>
&lang=en

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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

www.cleanairalliance.org 

Our <http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=48852021264&ref=ts>  Facebook
Group

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

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