Dear Hon. Bob Chiarelli, Minister of Energy:
There is still time to make the right decision on nuclear.
It’s a bad idea to waste billions by refurbishing the Darlington nuclear reactors to keep them running until 2055. This plan is terrible for both our economy and our environment.
No nuclear project in Ontario’s history has come in on budget or on time. The existing Darlington reactors were supposed to cost $4 billion, but came in $10 billion over budget. The recent refurbishment at Bruce Nuclear is $2 billion over budget.
At a time of record deficits, we should not be wasting billions on old technology. In fact, we are still paying for the debt from previous nuclear projects.
Your government decided to exempt this project from a provincial environmental review, which means that we still don’t have an independent analysis of the risks and costs of this project.
I urge you to conduct an independent review of costs and alternatives to nuclear. It is unacceptable and irresponsible that the Ontario government has nothing in place to protect ratepayers or taxpayers from nuclear cost overruns.
Nuclear is an inflexible source of base-load power that removes incentives for conservation, efficiency or more affordable sources of power.
Committing billions to nuclear will hurt recent strides in developing other sources of energy, including renewables, and hamper our ability to take advantage of new, emerging technologies. Your government has already directed agencies to stop the expansion of renewable energy in 2018 to reserve grid capacity for nuclear.
If the cost to our pocketbook isn’t enough, nuclear also presents a significant threat to our environment.
Darlington’s use of Lake Ontario water for cooling destroys millions of fish, larvae and eggs each year, and Darlington is also a major source of thermal and chemical pollution in the lake.
MOST IMPORTANTLY, THERE IS STILL NO PLAN OR COST GUESTIMATE TO DEAL WITH NUCLEAR WASTE. Meanwhile, the amount of dangerous nuclear waste continues to grow. We also face the risk of a serious nuclear accident in the most populated region of the province right over and next to the most important source of the region's drinking water.
More affordable, reliable and safer alternatives to nuclear exist. The Darlington refurbishment should be halted until the need for, alternatives to, and environmental effects of nuclear are fully and independently considered.
Thank you,
Terence C McCann
Holland Landing, ON
