November 27, 2009
“Nuclear power is a dangerous distraction to real solutions. When you extend a nuclear plant’s life beyond what it was designed for, you make an unsafe technology even more dangerous, create even more waste, and put off decisions on adopting real solutions.”
- Greenpeace’s New Chief, Kumi Naidoo
Canada’s Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act – Bill C-20
The Conservative government is trying to force through Bill C-20 that would limit the liability of nuclear power plants to just $650M. An accident could cost far more than this and Canadian's would be on the hook for the tab. Join this google group and help make nuclear plants pay the true costs.
http://groups.google.com/group/stop-nuclear-subsidies?hl=en&pli=1
For background on this issue see:
http://blogs.greenpeace.ca/?p=2163
The Harper government's secretive moves to privatize the CANDU reactor maker that you own.
http://thetyee.ca/News/2009/11/25/NuclearSelloff/
Expert evidence continues to accrue relegating nuclear energy to the category of “yesterday’s answer.” There is a move afoot in Congress to dramatically up spending for new nuclear energy projects. Bad idea. Look at the evidence. Don’t do it.
A Newsnight investigation suggests that UK government plans to build a new generation of nuclear power stations to fill the energy gap by 2020 are wildly optimistic.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/8379274.stm
Major setback for energy plans as report finds flaws in US and French models
Britain's main safety regulator threw the government's energy plans into chaos tonight by damning the nuclear industry's leading designs for new plants. The Health and Safety Executive said it could not recommend plans for new reactors because of wide-ranging concerns about their safety.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/27/nuclear-power-reactor-design
AREVA nuclear scandal:
Greenpeace has found high radiation contamination levels in the streets of Akokan where children play. In one area Greenpeace tested, the radiation was almost 500 times higher than normal levels.
This is the hidden cost of nuclear power: innocent men, women and children exposed to radiation, exploitation and danger. This is what we must accept if we are to continue using nuclear power for our energy needs. The uranium from Niger is used to keep the lights on in France. Nuclear reactors must have uranium. To obtain that uranium it seems that people must suffer. It is a story told wherever in the world uranium is mined. Ask yourself: would you like to live near a uranium mine?
http://weblog.greenpeace.org/nuclear-reaction/2009/11/areva_nuclear_scandal_greenpea.html
Controlled Ottawa River leak OK, AECL says
Nuclear facilities and power plants are contaminating Canadian food and water with radioactive waste that increases risks of cancer and birth defects, says a new report to be released today.
The report, Tritium on Tap, produced by the Sierra Club of Canada, warned that radioactive emissions from various nuclear plants across the country have more than doubled over the past decade.
"Once in our body, tritium enters our DNA, fat, proteins and carbohydrates -- and that is where it does its damage from close range," said the report. "It is a carcinogen and causes birth defects."Tritium on Tap: http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/tritium_report.shtml
While still well below the government's allowable limits, releases of tritium from the Point Lepreau nuclear plant into the Bay of Fundy were more than six times higher in 2008 than the previous year. The amounts spiked to their highest level in 19 years.
NB Power says it was because of the refurbishment underway to extend the life of Atlantic Canada's only nuclear reactor by 25 years.
Still, Canada's allowable limits are too high, argues Mike Buckthought of the environmental group Sierra Club Canada. He authored the report "Tritium on Tap," released Friday, which tallied tritium releases based on figures routinely compiled by the CNSC. The Sierra Club report lists the Bay of Fundy, the Great Lakes and the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers as polluted by "radioactive water."
Environmentalists argue that the nuclear industry downplays the significance of tritium releases because tritium can increase the risk of cancer and birth defects.
Buckthought argued the only real long-term solution to releasing more tritium into the environment is to replace nuclear reactors with renewable sources of electricity.
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/865888
Turkey on Friday scrapped a 2008 tender won by a Russian-led consortium to build the country's first nuclear power plant -- a process that had been under threat of being invalidated by a court decision.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jq9j9w-jkSU1yUWbWIQsi8DjPULQ
“New nuclear power investments would actually worsen climate change because the money spent on nuclear reactors would not be available for solutions that fight it faster and at lower cost,” said Peter Bradford, a former US Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner.
http://www.greenbang.com/nuclear-energys-impact-on-emissions-too-little-too-late_12671.html
The nuclear power industry can't even persuade its own investors to bet on it, so it's going after tax dollars and captive customers to pay for its dreamed-up expansion. Simple solution: If nuclear power can make it on its own, fine. But it's far too dangerous, too uncertain, too costly and too tempting to terrorists to be subsidized by taxpayers and unwilling customers. So far, the nuclear power industry is betting equally and exclusively on public dollars and gullibility. Don't let it get away with it.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/11/19-1
A new study puts the generation costs for power from new nuclear plants at from 25 to 30 cents per kilowatt-hour —triple current U.S. electricity rates!
This staggering price is far higher than the cost of a variety of carbon-free renewable power sources available today—and 10 times the cost of energy efficiency (see here).
The new study, Business Risks and Costs of New Nuclear Power [PDF], is one of the most detailed cost analyses publicly available on the current generation of nuclear power plants being considered in this country.
http://www.grist.org/article/Exclusive-analysis-Part-1/
http://climateprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/nuclear-costs-2009.pdf
Federal officials are investigating a radiation leak at Three Mile Island, scene of the worst U.S. nuclear power accident, but said on Sunday there was no threat to public health or safety.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5AM05B20091123
http://circleof13.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-leak-at-three-mile-island.html
http://www.hazardexonthenet.net/article.aspx?AreaID=2&ArticleID=29804
Join George Monbiot, Guardian columnist and author of “Heat: How To Save The Planet From Burning," in Toronto for a special event!
Saturday, November 28, 2pm to 4pm
J.J.R. MacLeod Auditorium, Medical Sciences Building, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto
With the international climate treaty summit less than a month away, leading experts on the science, policy and politics of climate change will lead a forum on the role Canada is (and isn't) playing on the international stage. Other Special Guests include Richard Littlemore, co-author of the new book Climate Cover Up: the crusade to deny global warming. <http://www.desmogblog.com/climate-cover-up>
Admission: Suggested donation of $10-$25. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds.
This event is brought to you by: DeSmogBlog.com <http://desmogblog.com/> e: desmogblog@gmail.com, c: 778.240.6343
Power Up Canada <http://www.powerupcanada.ca/> Climate Action Network, Canada <http://www.climateactionnetwork.ca/>
Greenpeace Canada <http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/>
University of Toronto Student Union <http://www.utsu.ca/> Science for Peace <http://scienceforpeace.sa.utoronto.ca/>
- Afghanistan, Canada, and the New Great Energy Game
With John Foster
Mon. Nov. 30, 7 p.m.
Steelworkers Hall, 25 Cecil St. (near Spadina and College)
Monday, 30 November, 7.30-9.30 p.m.
At Friends House, 60 Lowther Avenue, Toronto (St. George subway station)
Come to an evening of news, stories, and film of our work from local to global. Learn about our latest international delegation to a UN conference in Mexico City. And we'll have exciting news of more international conferences on the status of women at the UN in New York. This March, 2010 will be the 15 year review following the World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995.
All welcome! Contact: Janis Alton 905-274-6191 (best) or janis.alton@sympatico.ca for further information and/or if you wish to attend a pot luck dinner nearby 5.30 - 7.00 p.m..