Martin Mittelstaedt
Globe and Mail
November 6, 2001

Nuclear regulators have given the green light for the restart of the Pickering A nuclear station, the oldest atomic-power plant in the country, idled since 1997 because of financial, safety and environmental concerns.

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said yesterday that it will allow the reopening of the station on the eastern outskirts of Toronto pending the completion of a series of equipment upgrades.

The decision delighted officials of the station’s owner, Ontario Power Generation, but it dismayed antinuclear activists.

Station construction started in 1965. It is capable of producing about 10 per cent of the power flowing through Ontario’s transmission network.

"Pickering A will represent a further low-cost source of power," said Bob Strickert, vice-president at Ontario Power, the provincially owned utility.

But some environmentalists said the station shouldn’t operate. "The nuclear commission is not looking after the public’s best interest, and Pickering A should not be restarted. It’s too old and it’s too dangerous," said Irene Kock, nuclear consultant to the Sierra Club of Canada.

But Mr. Strickert said that part of the refurbishment includes improvements to Pickering’s emergency-shutdown equipment.

The reopening is a crucial part of the Ontario government’s program of allowing a competitive market for electricity.

The government wants the big addition to supplies from the station to help keep rates low and avoid shortages.

The equipment upgrades and the return to power generation will cost about $1.3-billion.