December 11th, 2008
Environmental review of Pickering B nuclear plant overlooks serious threats
Shawn Patrick Stensil
Yesterday Greenpeace and other environmental groups, such as Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, the Pembina Institute, Great Lakes United and many others, told the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) that it should not allow the Pickering B nuclear station to be rebuilt.
Environmental reviews on nuclear plants are usually a farce and this one was no exception. The CNSC excluded environmental hazards from the review such as radioactive waste, nuclear accidents and terrorist attack from the scope of the review. Essentially the CNSC thinks it can protect Canadians from nuclear risks by not talking about them.
Mark Mattson of Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, a great organization working to protect Lake Ontario, told the Commission that Pickering kills millions of fish every year, but the CNSC and OPG are unwilling to upgrade the plant with modern technology to protect. Such upgrades are typically avoided to lower the high cost or rebuilding the plant. Unfortunately it’s the ecosytem of Lake Ontario that pays.
During my presentation to the Commission I pointed out that credible environmental assessments consider alternatives which would eliminate or mitigate hazards posed by operating Pickering. Of course, the CNSC failed to consider more environmentally friendly options to rebuilding Pickering B.
I told the Commission that there are alternatives and presented the results of the Plugging Ontario Into A Green Future study, which shows how Pickering B could be replaced by a portfolio of cleaner and safer energy options.
The ball is now in Energy Minister George Smitherman’s court. If he’s really supportive of green energy he has a clear option: close Pickering and replace it with green energy.
We’ll find out where he stands early next year.
You can watch TV coverage of the CNSC hearing below.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7920096058737733315Environmental review of Pickering B nuclear plant overlooks serious threats
Categories: Nuclear
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January 8th, 2009 at 11:20 am
i think that what the nuclear planting is seriously wrong, i think that everybody should help shut it down!
September 14th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
Why do people think nuclear powerplants are so dangerous? They are the most environmentally safe and efficient source of power we have. Oh and if these idiots were to somehow get the plant to close (which will not happen anywhere in the near future) we would be living in the dark. We are having problems meeting power demands as it is. So lets shut down our most efficient sources of energy so we can live in the dark!