Murray Campbell
Globe and Mail
September 16, 2005

Toronto: Environmentalists are promising to mount a massive opposition campaign if the Ontario government commissions new nuclear-powered electricity generation stations.

"The construction of a new nuclear plant in Ontario would be the environmental battle of the millennium," David Martin, energy co-ordinator for Greenpeace Canada, said yesterday.

His comments were echoed by spokesmen from other environmental organizations who say Premier Dalton McGuinty is ignoring the province’s troubled nuclear history by considering new plants.

Mr. McGuinty said on Wednesday that he is prepared to embark on a new multibillion-dollar nuclear program if a review of the province’s tight energy supply concludes this is necessary. He said he was waiting for a Dec. 1 report from a new regulatory body, the Ontario Power Authority, which is reviewing concerns about the province’s energy supply.

"Should the OPA recommend nuclear as being an indispensable part of a diverse supply of electricity, then we will build new nuclear in this province," he said.

Environmentalists interviewed yesterday also accused the Premier of shutting off public debate about the future of nuclear power that his government had promised.

Elizabeth May, executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada, said she believes the government is floating a trial balloon. But she said Ontarians would have no option but to "raise holy hell" if she’s wrong and Mr. McGuinty authorizes new nuclear plants.

Ms. May said new nuclear plants would be a "big, fat mistake" because they are uneconomical and there is no way to deal with the radioactive waste they produce.

Tom Adams, a spokesman for Energy Probe, said he admired the Premier’s decision to close Ontario’s four remaining coal-fired generation plans rather than gambling with "cleaner" coal.

But Mr. Adams said nuclear plants are every bit the gamble that clean-coal systems might be. He said Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., the maker of the Candu reactors used in Canada, had cost federal taxpayers more than $17-billion in failed attempts to develop commercially viable nuclear reactors.

"Nukes are anything but solid," he said. "This is putting us on an extremely risky investment path."

Ontario has not considered any new nuclear plants since the last units at the Darlington station, east of Toronto, came on line in 1993. The project was 10 years overdue and $12-billion over budget. It was also the focus of frequent protests by environmentalists.

The province has refurbished two 40-year-old reactors at the Pickering station, also east of Toronto, and has struck a tentative deal with a private firm, Bruce Power, to restart two units at the Bruce station on Lake Huron.

But the surplus of electricity-generation capacity in the early 1990s no longer exists and Ontario struggles with brownouts on high-demand days.

Letter to the Editor
Globe and Mail

Re: "Environmentalists pledge to fight any new nuclear plants"

While accurately reflecting Energy Probe’s opposition to nuclear expansion with its inherent financial and environmental risks, your report incorrectly summarized Energy Probe’s position with respect to cleaner coal. New Danish coal-fired power stations have proven the cleaner coal option. Fitted with modern pollution controls, blending coal with organic wastes, and serving urban heating requirements, stations like Copenhagen’s Avedore are today producing electricity with a smog and greenhouse gas emission profile equal to or better than the more costly gas-fired electricity the Ontario government is currently developing.

Tom Adams, Energy Probe