Anti-nuclear Movement in Canada

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Revision as of 09:21, 20 September 2009 by Falk (talk | contribs) (upcoming events)
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Nuclear Power generation in Canada has been plagued with safety failures, cost overruns, and, in many cases, an inability to produce the power promised by nuclear companies. Canadian provincial governments are reacting in very different ways to this controversial energy source. While the province of Quebec has declared a moratorium on all nuclear power projects, Ontario is planning to replace all coal-fired energy plants with nuclear plants by 2012. The province of New Brunswick continues to host one nuclear reactor, while the government of Alberta is considering building Western Canada's first nuclear power station.

Canada is also an exporter of uranium, which has led to extensive human rights abuses among those living near mines.


Upcoming Events

  • The government of Alberta is planning to make a decision on whether to allow a nuclear plant to be build in AB by the end of 2009. A big rally is planned on Oct 27, at 12:30 pm


The Ontario Situation

Nuclear power in Ontario has left a legacy of crippling debt for the government and the people to shoulder. All Ontarians pay back part of the province's $38 billion nuclear debt. Dubbed the 'Debt Retirement Charge,' the fee taxes ever kilowatt-hour of electricity used by Ontario households. For each kilowatt-hour used, households must pay an extra 0.7 cents plus taxes, which works out to about $81 per year lost per household in Ontario, to pay the nuclear debt already incurred[1].

Nuclear power currently makes up about half of Ontario's power generation REF. This is set to increase as the Government of Ontario aims to phase out all coal-fired power plants by 2014, with much of this lost power generation to be taken up by nuclear.

Plans for new NPPs in Ontario seem to fail

In July 2009, the nuclear power provider Bruce Power informed that the company has decided to withdrawn their applications for new Nuclear Power Plants in Ontario. The demands for electricity in the province wouldn't give reasons for these investitions. Instead of constructing new NPPs Bruce Power wants now to concentrate on the refurbishment of their old reactors.[2] Some time before the administration of Ontario had suspended the plans to construct new reactors in Darlington because of the high costs[3]

Bruce Power emphasized that this decision wouldn't mean that they would also cancel their NPP plans in Alberta and Saskatchewan. In these provinces that don't have nuclear power plants yet the company waits for the governments general decisions about nuclear power.[4]


Links to Canadian Anti-Nuclear Organizations


Indigenous Links



  1. http://www.gosage.net/Site/Ontario_Hydro_Debt_and_Cost_Over-runs.html
  2. http://www.brucepower.com/pagecontent.aspx?navuid=1211&dtuid=84013 on August 3, 2009
  3. Bruce nixes 'more nukes' plan. The Toronto Sun, Fri Jul 24 2009 BY JONATHAN JENKINS, QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
  4. http://www.brucepower.com/pagecontent.aspx?navuid=1211&dtuid=84013 on August 3, 2009