The Nuclear Model
High Cost
Ontario is budgeting $26 billion for new nuclear plants, but Moody’s Investors Service, one of the world’s leading credit rating agencies, says the real cost is likely to be 2.5 times that. Moody’s has the facts on its side – no nuclear project in Ontario has ever come close to being completed on budget. Much of the technology being proposed for Ontario, such as the new CANDU, doesn’t even exist yet – it is just plans on paper (or in a computer).
The last time Ontario took a chance on a paper reactor (the Maple reactor that was supposed to produce radioactive isotopes for medical use) the units turned out to be unsafe to operate once built.
The need for ever more stringent safety and security standards in a post 9/11 world means higher and higher costs for dangerous nuclear plants. You don’t have to guard a wind turbine 24/7 against terrorist attacks or sabotage.
Just think what we could achieve if we put $68 billion into efficiency programs, high-efficiency combined heat and power generation and clean renewable energy.
Expensive to maintain
Ontario’s nuclear plants are lemons - and they are aging badly. In 2006, Ontario’s nuclear fleet operated at only 69% of its capacity. Unplanned shutdowns are routine and units are essentially falling apart long before their planned lifetimes. Ontario ratepayers and taxpayers have been hit with tens of billions of dollars in repair costs and the bills are not going to stop coming anytime soon - refurbishment of the Bruce A Units 1 and 2 is already anywhere from $350-$650 million over budget and far from complete.
Every month, you pay a surcharge on your power bill to help cover the $20 billion nuclear debt that the old Ontario Hydro racked up. Keep your wallet handy.
Low Efficiency
About 67% of the energy in the fuel used by a nuclear plant is simply wasted. That’s about the same level of efficiency as our coal generating stations, which are based on 19th-century technology. By comparison, a natural gas- or biomass-fired combined heat and power plant can capture more than 80% of the energy in the fuel it uses.
And because nuclear plants need to be located well away from big cities, where most of their electricity is actually used, they can also lose more of the electricity they do produce to transmission line inefficiences.
Prone to breakdown
The reliability of Ontario’s nuclear plants has been simply dismal. For example, it was claimed that after hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs, the Pickering A Unit 1 reactor would operate at 85% of its capacity. In 2007, it actually operated at 39% after being shut down once again for further unplanned repairs.
As the Globe and Mail put it, Ontario’s CANDU reactors are “the Edsel of nuclear power.”
Big Environmental Footprint
Nuclear is not clean energy. It produces dangerously radioactive waste for which there are no long-term disposal options in place. Nuclear waste will remain radioactive for thousands of years and current plans call for high-level management of waste sites for at least 300 years!
No one has ever attempted to actually take apart and dispose of an aging reactor (with the exception, perhaps, of the destroyed Chernobyl site), but given the performance history (and dangerously close to Toronto location) of the Pickering Nuclear Station, Ontario may be facing that challenge sooner rather than later.
Nuclear power also relies on fuel –uranium– that is every bit as limited as fossil fuels. Uranium mining has big environmental impacts and a long history of air and water pollution. Uranium reserves are dwindling and the quality of ore bodies is dropping, meaning mines have to be bigger and more energy expended to produce the same amount of fuel.
Lastly, nuclear is a slow and expensive response to climate change. We cannot wait 10-15 years to reduce emissions from coal-fired electricity - the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Ontario - but that is how long it will take to build a new nuclear plant.
*Information is taken from www.OntariosGreenFuture.ca
Ontario is budgeting $26 billion for new nuclear plants, but Moody’s Investors Service, one of the world’s leading credit rating agencies, says the real cost is likely to be 2.5 times that. Moody’s has the facts on its side – no nuclear project in Ontario has ever come close to being completed on budget. Much of the technology being proposed for Ontario, such as the new CANDU, doesn’t even exist yet – it is just plans on paper (or in a computer).
The last time Ontario took a chance on a paper reactor (the Maple reactor that was supposed to produce radioactive isotopes for medical use) the units turned out to be unsafe to operate once built.
The need for ever more stringent safety and security standards in a post 9/11 world means higher and higher costs for dangerous nuclear plants. You don’t have to guard a wind turbine 24/7 against terrorist attacks or sabotage.
Just think what we could achieve if we put $68 billion into efficiency programs, high-efficiency combined heat and power generation and clean renewable energy.
Expensive to maintain
Ontario’s nuclear plants are lemons - and they are aging badly. In 2006, Ontario’s nuclear fleet operated at only 69% of its capacity. Unplanned shutdowns are routine and units are essentially falling apart long before their planned lifetimes. Ontario ratepayers and taxpayers have been hit with tens of billions of dollars in repair costs and the bills are not going to stop coming anytime soon - refurbishment of the Bruce A Units 1 and 2 is already anywhere from $350-$650 million over budget and far from complete.
Every month, you pay a surcharge on your power bill to help cover the $20 billion nuclear debt that the old Ontario Hydro racked up. Keep your wallet handy.
Low Efficiency
About 67% of the energy in the fuel used by a nuclear plant is simply wasted. That’s about the same level of efficiency as our coal generating stations, which are based on 19th-century technology. By comparison, a natural gas- or biomass-fired combined heat and power plant can capture more than 80% of the energy in the fuel it uses.
And because nuclear plants need to be located well away from big cities, where most of their electricity is actually used, they can also lose more of the electricity they do produce to transmission line inefficiences.
Prone to breakdown
The reliability of Ontario’s nuclear plants has been simply dismal. For example, it was claimed that after hundreds of millions of dollars in repairs, the Pickering A Unit 1 reactor would operate at 85% of its capacity. In 2007, it actually operated at 39% after being shut down once again for further unplanned repairs.
As the Globe and Mail put it, Ontario’s CANDU reactors are “the Edsel of nuclear power.”
Big Environmental Footprint
Nuclear is not clean energy. It produces dangerously radioactive waste for which there are no long-term disposal options in place. Nuclear waste will remain radioactive for thousands of years and current plans call for high-level management of waste sites for at least 300 years!
No one has ever attempted to actually take apart and dispose of an aging reactor (with the exception, perhaps, of the destroyed Chernobyl site), but given the performance history (and dangerously close to Toronto location) of the Pickering Nuclear Station, Ontario may be facing that challenge sooner rather than later.
Nuclear power also relies on fuel –uranium– that is every bit as limited as fossil fuels. Uranium mining has big environmental impacts and a long history of air and water pollution. Uranium reserves are dwindling and the quality of ore bodies is dropping, meaning mines have to be bigger and more energy expended to produce the same amount of fuel.
Lastly, nuclear is a slow and expensive response to climate change. We cannot wait 10-15 years to reduce emissions from coal-fired electricity - the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Ontario - but that is how long it will take to build a new nuclear plant.
*Information is taken from www.OntariosGreenFuture.ca
Another $26 BILLION on nuclear power?
Ontario is proposing to spend more than $26 BILLION on nuclear power.
Don't let the government give the nuclear industry another big blank cheque.
No nuclear project in Ontario has ever been finished on-time or on-budget.
Now, Ontario's energy planners are calling for massive new spending on nuclear energy. But their cost estimates are less than half those of the experts at internationally respected Moody's Investors Service. And it is Ontario taxpayers and ratepayers who will be on the hook when the costs of these nuclear projects spiral out of control.
You're already paying for Ontario's past nuclear mistakes with a monthly debt retirement charge on your hydro bill.
Your grandkids will likely still be paying this charge unless we adopt more responsible energy planning. The government currently intends to sign a contract in the spring of 2009 for the construction of new nuclear reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Station. Based on Moody's cost estimates, this project alone will cost $26 billion - the amount the Ontario Power Authority has budgeted for its entire proposed nuclear expansion program over the next 20 years. There are many better options for meeting Ontario's electricity needs than another risky bet on nuclear power. (Scroll down for some of these)
Support the call for a NUCLEAR COST RESPONSIBILITY ACT that will prevent nuclear cost overruns from being passed on to ratepayers and taxpayers. Ontario has signed hundreds of renewable and natural gas electricity generation contracts and not one of these contracts allows for capitcal cost overruns to be passed on to the public.
IT'S TIME TO END NUCLEAR POWER'S COSTLY SPECIAL DEALS. Contact Energy Minister George Smitherman at 416-327-6758 and tell him that nuclear power companies must not be allowed to pass their capital cost overruns on to Ontario's electricity consumers or taxpayers.
*Information is taken from www.OntariosGreenFuture.ca
Don't let the government give the nuclear industry another big blank cheque.
No nuclear project in Ontario has ever been finished on-time or on-budget.
Now, Ontario's energy planners are calling for massive new spending on nuclear energy. But their cost estimates are less than half those of the experts at internationally respected Moody's Investors Service. And it is Ontario taxpayers and ratepayers who will be on the hook when the costs of these nuclear projects spiral out of control.
You're already paying for Ontario's past nuclear mistakes with a monthly debt retirement charge on your hydro bill.
Your grandkids will likely still be paying this charge unless we adopt more responsible energy planning. The government currently intends to sign a contract in the spring of 2009 for the construction of new nuclear reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Station. Based on Moody's cost estimates, this project alone will cost $26 billion - the amount the Ontario Power Authority has budgeted for its entire proposed nuclear expansion program over the next 20 years. There are many better options for meeting Ontario's electricity needs than another risky bet on nuclear power. (Scroll down for some of these)
Support the call for a NUCLEAR COST RESPONSIBILITY ACT that will prevent nuclear cost overruns from being passed on to ratepayers and taxpayers. Ontario has signed hundreds of renewable and natural gas electricity generation contracts and not one of these contracts allows for capitcal cost overruns to be passed on to the public.
IT'S TIME TO END NUCLEAR POWER'S COSTLY SPECIAL DEALS. Contact Energy Minister George Smitherman at 416-327-6758 and tell him that nuclear power companies must not be allowed to pass their capital cost overruns on to Ontario's electricity consumers or taxpayers.
*Information is taken from www.OntariosGreenFuture.ca
Nuclear's free ride
No renewable power project, even if it is run by a community co-op or a First Nation, is allowed to pass on capital cost overruns to ratepayers or taxpayers. Companies building natural gas-fired power plants have to play by the same rules.
But it is a different story for nuclear plant operators, who have routinely reached into our pockets to cover massive cost overruns, like the $10 billion in extra costs for the Darlington Nuclear Station or the $1.5 billion in overruns on repairs to the Pickering Station. And soon, we will be footing a big part of the bill for the mounting cost overruns on ongoing repairs to the Bruce Station.
But Ontario taxpayers are not only on the hook for nuclear capital cost overruns, we also give nuclear power operators subsidies that are not available to any other power producer:
Radioactive waste disposal costs
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization estimates these costs will be more than $20 billion for existing waste. Taxpayers will foot a major share of this bill, including 100% of any costs over $10 billion.
Nuclear Liability Costs
No private insurer will insure a nuclear plant against a major accident. Therefore, the government artificially limits the liability of nuclear plant operators to $75 million — a token sum that will be dwarfed by the real costs of even a modest accident.
Nuclear plant decommissioning
Ontario’s electricity consumers and taxpayers are responsible for 100% of the costs of taking apart and disposing of the nuclear reactors run by privately owned Bruce Power.
*Information is taken from www.OntariosGreenFuture.ca
But it is a different story for nuclear plant operators, who have routinely reached into our pockets to cover massive cost overruns, like the $10 billion in extra costs for the Darlington Nuclear Station or the $1.5 billion in overruns on repairs to the Pickering Station. And soon, we will be footing a big part of the bill for the mounting cost overruns on ongoing repairs to the Bruce Station.
But Ontario taxpayers are not only on the hook for nuclear capital cost overruns, we also give nuclear power operators subsidies that are not available to any other power producer:
Radioactive waste disposal costs
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization estimates these costs will be more than $20 billion for existing waste. Taxpayers will foot a major share of this bill, including 100% of any costs over $10 billion.
Nuclear Liability Costs
No private insurer will insure a nuclear plant against a major accident. Therefore, the government artificially limits the liability of nuclear plant operators to $75 million — a token sum that will be dwarfed by the real costs of even a modest accident.
Nuclear plant decommissioning
Ontario’s electricity consumers and taxpayers are responsible for 100% of the costs of taking apart and disposing of the nuclear reactors run by privately owned Bruce Power.
*Information is taken from www.OntariosGreenFuture.ca
WE CAN KEEP THE LIGHTS ON WITHOUT NUCLEAR
1. Ontario's wind power potential is more than 10 times greater than our total electricity consumption.
2. Ontario's biomass power potential from agriculture and municipal waste is equal to about 25% of our total electricity consumption.
3. Ontario still has untapped water power potential and can cost-effectively import large amounts of hydro power from Quebec.
4. Ontario's electricity consumption per person is 50% higher than New York State's. We can meet a big chunk of our power needs simplly by using energy more efficiently.
5. Ontario can make much better use of natural gas by using it to provide two services - heat and power - instead of just heat through super-efficient combined heat and power systems located in hospitals, schools, shopping centres, apartment towers, office buildings and factories.
These options would create more jobs, cost less overall and address our climate impact now - not decades from now.
Find out more about how Ontario can have a 100% green electricity grid by 2027 at: www.OntariosGreenFuture.ca
2. Ontario's biomass power potential from agriculture and municipal waste is equal to about 25% of our total electricity consumption.
3. Ontario still has untapped water power potential and can cost-effectively import large amounts of hydro power from Quebec.
4. Ontario's electricity consumption per person is 50% higher than New York State's. We can meet a big chunk of our power needs simplly by using energy more efficiently.
5. Ontario can make much better use of natural gas by using it to provide two services - heat and power - instead of just heat through super-efficient combined heat and power systems located in hospitals, schools, shopping centres, apartment towers, office buildings and factories.
These options would create more jobs, cost less overall and address our climate impact now - not decades from now.
Find out more about how Ontario can have a 100% green electricity grid by 2027 at: www.OntariosGreenFuture.ca
About Ontario's Green Future & OCAA
Ontario's Green Future is the vision of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA). The OCAA is a coalition of health and environmental organisations, faith communities, municipalities, utilities, unions, corporations and individuals working for cleaner air tghrough a coal phase-out and a shift to a renewable electricitiy future.
For more information on OCAA visit the link below.
For more information on OCAA visit the link below.