Sept. 29, 2016
Too much power? Then why keep Pickering running? Citing a surplus of power, the Wynne gov't pulled the plug Tues. on its Large Renewable Procurement (LRP) process for acquiring wind and solar power at highly competitive prices. But the reason Ontario has a glut of power is the gov't's insistance on keeping high cost nuclear stations running despite plenty of better options.
The World
☢ Shipments of Liquid Nuclear Waste Scheduled to Begin Soon
☢ The Friendly Atom with David Suzuki 1998. An exploration of Canada’s foray into nuclear weapons – Atoms for War – and ensuing nuclear power – Atoms for Peace. Featuring Dr. Gordon Edwards, CCNR. Lots of archival footage.
Ontario
☢ How we can close the Pickering Nuclear Station and lower bills
☢ Price of nuclear power going up 180% by 2026 Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is seeking permission from the Ontario Energy Board to increase the price of its nuclear power by 11% per year for each of the next ten years, raising its price for nuclear power from 5.9 cents per kWh in 2016 to 16.8 cents per kWh in 2026. That means the rate in 2026 will be almost triple (2.8 times greater) today’s price. Meanwhile, our neighbours in Quebec are sitting on a growing surplus of truly low-cost water power
☢ ON Greens question 180 % increase in nuclear hydro rates over next decade Ontario Power Generation (OPG), a crown corporation, has filed a request and application with the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) to increase nuclear power rates by 11 % / year between 2017 and 2026.
☢ Alliance advocates importing Quebec hydro According to the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, Cornwall has the lowest residential electricity bills in Ontario because it buys lower-cost water power from Hydro Quebec. Read more here.
☢ Pickering Nuclear: Unsafe at any speed The Pickering Nuclear Station has a long history of operational problems, accidents and poor performance. Read about the dozens of accidents and review of risks here.
☢ Provincial growth plan and nuclear plans on collision course “Ontario’s growth plans are on a collision course with its plans to keep the Pickering and Darlington nuclear stations operating. Operating reactors in the GTA was a bad idea in the first place, but to then encourage growth near these reactors is sheer folly,” said Shawn-Patrick Stensil, Greenpeace
Renewables and Conservation
☼ Ontario Liberals scrap plans for $3.8 billion in renewable energy projects Meanwhile, no word on the tripling of nuclear rates.
☼ The New Power Generation – Disruption Alternative energy is forcing fossil-fuel giants to reinvent themselves. 15 min. video documentary
Take Action!
☢ Please send Premier Wynne a message asking her to negotiate a deal with Quebec It's time for Premier Wynne to negotiate a long-term electricity supply contract with Hydro Quebec to really help lower the electricity bills of all of Ontario’s electricity consumers and move ON to a renewable future not reliant on high cost nuclear power.
☢ Can you spare a few hours to leaflet blitz your neighbourhood mailboxes? Help us make the closure of the Pickering nuclear station a public issue. Contact: angela@cleanairalliance.org
☢ Close the old and dangerous Pickering Nuclear Station – Please Sign the Petition to Close Pickering when its license expires in 2018 rather than extend its life 'till 2028 which is OPG's hope.
☢ Please contact Ontario’s new Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault and ask him to invest in conservation rather than re-building the Darlington and Bruce Nuclear Stations.
☢ Please send Premier Wynne a message asking her to order OPG to develop an immediate decommissioning plan for Pickering and to close this dinosaur by 2018 (when its license expires) at the latest. Background here.
☢ Stop The Great Lakes Nuclear Dump Sign the petition calling on Federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna to reject OPG's nuclear waste dump on the shore of Lake Huron. And also send a letter to Minister McKenna urging her to reject OPG's nuclear waste burial scheme catherine.mckenna@parl.gc.ca
☢ Order your free KI (anti-thyroid-cancer) pills here if you live within 50 km of an ON nuclear facility - that includes all of Toronto and beyond. Download your anti-thyroid cancer posters here to post in your office, school, or local cafe
Events
☢ Everything you Treasure – For a World Free of Nuclear Weapons Sept. 29, Ottawa City Hall. Exhibition 9 a.m. – 9 p.m., Dialogue and performances 6 – 9 p.m. Co-sponsored by ICAN (International Campaign for Nuclear Abolution)
☢ Great Lakes Public Forum Oct. 4 – 6, Allstream Centre, Toronto
☢ What is a Healthy Lake Ontario for You? Wed. Oct. 5, 7 – 9 p.m. Toronto City Hall, Committee Room 1. Let’s talk tritium! Inform the International Joint Commission about what the governments are and aren’t doing to restore and protect the lake, and how to develop a shared vision for what is a healthy Lake Ontario.
☢ Command and Control Screening daily Sept. 23 - Oct. 3 at Hot Docs Cinema, 506 Bloor W., Toronto. Near the end of the Cold War, human error nearly caused a nuclear warhead to explode in Arkansas. The event was kept secret until only recently. Equal parts history lesson, cautionary tale and nerve-rattling thriller, this unsettling production uses all manner of nonfiction devices to elicit both horror and outrage over the precariousness of our deadliest arsenals.
☢ The Winning of the Carbon War - power and politics on the front lines of climate and clean energy Runnymede Library, Toronto. Tues. Oct 11, 6:15 – 8:15 PM Jeremy Leggett presents on screen some of the key reasons he believes the world is starting to win the carbon war.
☢ Nuclear Neighbour Sun. Oct. 23, 2:15 p.m. AGO Jackman Hall, Toronto. Sweden/Finland/Norway | 2016 | Documentary | 78 min The extraordinary Hanna Halmeenpää, a Finnish mother and wife, changes her life when the government allows a Japanese company to build a nuclear power plant in her rustic Northern environment. Q&A with filmmaker following the film.
☢ Pickering Nuclear Station: 12 more years or time to call it quits? With speakers: Ian Fairlie, expert on radioactivity from UK; Jack Gibbons, energy economist with Ontario Clean Air Alliance; and John Coo, Green Cross Canada. Tuesday, October 25, 7 - 9 p.m. Pickering Rec Complex, Mtng. Rm. B
☢ Pickering Nuclear Station: 12 more years or time to call it quits? With speakers: Ian Fairlie, expert on radioactivity from UK; Jack Gibbons, energy economist with Ontario Clean Air Alliance; and John Coo, Green Cross Canada. Wed., October 26, 7 - 9 p.m. Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham, Toronto
