Ontario Considers Building a Nuclear Plant

[CShine]

With Ontario on the brink of an energy supply squeeze, and some of its aging nuclear plants facing an uncertain future, moves are under way in the province, Canada's most populous, to build the first nuclear reactor in North America in more than two decades. Memories of last August's power blackout, which was felt in a wide swath of southern Ontario as well as in the Northeast and Midwest of the United States, have only increased pressure for the province to become more self-sufficient.

Ontario's energy minister, Dwight Duncan, said in a recent interview that in any overhaul of the power sector, the province would have to consider nuclear energy. "The use of nuclear power is controversial," he said. "We have some significant decisions to make."

Introducing a bill to streamline regulation of the power sector and to attract private sector investment, Mr. Duncan said earlier this week, "It is absolutely critical that we move forward quickly to boost new supply, increase conservation and maintain price stability for consumers."

A new nuclear plant would most likely be built on the shore of one of the Great Lakes, where Ontario's three existing nuclear plants are. It would be the first in North America since confidence in atomic energy was shattered by an accident at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania in 1979.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/18/business/worldbusiness/18nuke.html

[Massacure]

1. Good. A well maintained nuclear plant is much safer than coal.

[lapfog_1]

2. Nuclear is safer than coal in much the same way

as jumping off of a 20 story building is safer than jumping off
a 40 story building

[struggle4progress]

3. Expensive! Lots of US ratepayers are paying "stranded costs." eom

[treepig]

4. that's a pretty neat trick by those wiley canadians

anyhow, if anyone on management over there reads DU, they'll learn soon enough that even one molecule of radiation can kill you, so they'll no doubt reconsider

[SidDithers]

5. What's a molecule of radiation?

Just wondering where you're getting your science from...

Sid

[treepig]

10. straight from DU'ers

stick around, you'll learn!!

[struggle4progress]

11. ???

x(

[struggle4progress]

6. ??? What in the world are you trying to say ???

[CHIMO]

7. Do You Know

What an atom is, electron, neutron, quark, heavy water...?
Better not go out in the day light.

[Lost147]

8. good

Nuclear power is defiently a great source of energy, I believe France is running on 70% Nuclear power or something. The only real draw back is the waste it produces. Its a much viable option than burning coal or oil.

[CHIMO]

9. Agree That It has Its Positives

But I think that options have to be revisited based on higher prices for hydrocarbon fuels and the requirements for disposing of the spent fuels. The high maintenance and protection required for nuclear may now be offset somewhat by the higher fuel prices for conventional fuels and any requirements for reducing greenhouse gasses.
I think that a good evaluation is required. And not gut reactions.

[lapfog_1]

12. There are THREE reasons that any cost associated with nuclear

is not yet calculable:

1. The cost of an accident is unknowable, and pointing to the
two major accidents in the 40+ years of nuclear power is not
very reassuring.

2. The cost of properly disposing of nuclear waste. Just entombing
this stuff with current state of the art is not sufficient, not
for the extremely long term (longer than recorded human history).
Leaving it for future generations with new technologies is not
very nice. We cannot see into the future, to think that human
progress is now a constant given for all time is simply
irresponsible.

3. The cost of decommissioning a nuclear power plant is unknown. We have
never really done this, other than to entomb the plant in concrete.
But that isn't sufficient.

Oh, and let's add a forth and fifth.

By concentrating the generation of major amounts of power with a
dangerous facility, we offer up a juicy terrorist target...
and, by concentrating the generation of power to highly centralized
and, in the current political/economic climate, PRIVATE hands, we
put ourselves at the mercy of the literal power brokers, such as
Enron and their ilk... and the government regulators which are not
always working in the best interests of the people.

Of course, the last argument is the same for natural gas, coal, and
other major sources of power generation (even wind farms and,
possibly, solar).