Stop Nuclear Expansion in Ontario

The Ontario government is planning to procure an additional 14, 000 Megawatts
(MW) of nuclear energy through the construction of new nuclear plants and the
refurbishment of old reactors. Expanding Ontario’s nuclear capacity equates to
gross negligence.

It is sentencing future generations to deal with the dangers and burdens implicit
to nuclear energy. Below are the reasons why nuclear is a deeply unethical
energy option, especially when there are other energy technologies that are
proven to be clean, safe and reliable.

Nuclear's Time Has Passed: Research has proven that Ontario can be powered
without it. Today, renewable energy technologies including wind, solar,
geothermal, hydro and biomass, are highly developed and in use internationally.
Globally, the rates of growth of the solar market and of installed wind capacity
exceeds 25% a year. Renewables are safer, more reliable, and can be deployed
significantly more quickly and widely than nuclear power. Renewables are ready
now for the phase out of nuclear power.

Ecological Justice/Intergenerational Equity: Devastating impacts arise from all
phases of the nuclear lifecycle. Mining and exploration devastates landscapes,
First Nations land rights and traditional way of life and it has significant impacts
on water resources. The toxic tailings from mining and refining, and the spent
fuel bundles goes far beyond the lifetime of this generation, lasting tens of
thousands of years.

Health: Radioactive tritium, is a by-product of CANDU nuclear generation, not to
mention a mutagen, carcinogen, and teratogen. CANDU reactors produce far
more tritium than other reactors by design. Tritium from reactors is released
into our water supply. Recommended concentrations from the Ontario Drinking
Water Advisory Council are 20-100Bq/L, vs. the current 7000Bq/L standard.
Developing fetuses, young children and pubescent youth are most at risk.

Cost: The costs to the Ontario tax payers in order to generate nuclear power are
astounding and can only be expected to rise. The costs passed onto future
generations are either unaccounted for or unknown. Construction of Darlington
was estimated at $4b, but cost $14.3b, this does not include the $7.47b and
$24b for decommissioning and waste management respectfully. $15b of Ontario
Hydro’s $20b debt was due to nuclear. In the event of an accident, the
taxpayers are liable. Uranium prices increased six fold since 2001.

Political Transparency: Nuclear power is not above the law! Plans for new
nuclear projects were exempted from the Environmental Assessment Act in
2006, and, have now bypassed the Ontario Energy Board review process. This is
a violation of the public's right to participate in decision making and eliminated
the sole opportunity for the evaluation of sustainability. Building new reactors is
unnecessary! The OPA has claimed estimated that electricity demand will almost
double, when it has steadily declined since the 1950s. Similar inaccurate
forecasts were provided in the past to justify nuclear power investment.

Climate Change Mitigation: The GHG emissions reductions are actually not
meaningful for mitigating climate change as they will not occur within the
timeframe of action required by the IPCC. It takes 10-15 years to bring new
capacity on-line for Ontario. Refurbishment of old facilities takes up to 5 years.
Clearly this is not within the time frame required for action on GHG emissions.