Hudak’s Nuclear Fantasy

May 15, 2012

Hudak’s Nuclear Fantasy

Today Ontario Opposition Leader Tim Hudak released his strategy to lower electricity rates, namely, cancelling the Green Energy Act’s feed-in-tariff for renewable energy and embarking on a major nuclear spending program to ensure that nuclear power will meet “half of our power needs.”

Unfortunately, based on the actual facts, it appears that Mr. Hudak has got his recipe for lower power costs absolutely backwards:

• According to a recent Ontario Energy Board (OEB) report, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is one of the worst performing nuclear operators in the world. In terms of generating costs per kWh, OPG ranks 16th out of the 16 nuclear companies surveyed.
• According to another recent OEB report, 45% of the increase in Ontario’s electricity generation costs since 2006 are the result of subsidies for the nuclear industry, while only 6% of the increase is due to green power.
• An analysis of nuclear spending plans in the United Kingdom by Citi Bank bluntly states that “new nuclear power plants in the UK are not commercially viable.” Reports this week note that projected costs of new reactors there have close to doubled in the past year alone and will require a government subsidy equal to about 70% of the cost of generating a kWh of electricity with new nuclear.

The truth is that if Mr. Hudak really wanted to lower Ontario power costs, he would call on the government to immediately begin shutting down the woefully underperforming and badly aging Pickering nuclear station and toss out the fantastical cost projections for nuclear that, despite having zero credibility, seem to underpin all the government’s – and Mr. Hudak’s -- energy planning.

Please send Mr. Hudak a message here and ask him to develop a credible, fact-based strategy to cut the real waste in Ontario’s electricity system – nuclear power.

Thank you.

Angela Bischoff

p.s. Please order FREE multiple copies of our new leaflet Let’s Cut Some Real Waste. They contain a postcard to Energy Minister Bentley, giving people something tangible to DO to make their voices heard.

Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
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Phone 416-260-2080 ext. 1
angela@cleanairalliance.org
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