Petition for the immediate dismantling of Pickering Nuclear Station

Petition to the Honourable Peter Bethlenfalvy, M.P.P. Pickering-Uxbridge & Minister of Finance

Dear Minister Bethlenfalvy:

Please ask Ontario Power Generation (OPG) to:

1. Immediately dismantle the Pickering Nuclear Station after its operating licence expires in December 2024, to permit most of the station’s 600-acre site to be returned to the people of Pickering by 2034; and
2. Ensure that the Pickering Nuclear Station’s spent nuclear fuel is stored in an attack-resistant facility as soon as possible.

You can add your own comments by clicking “Read the Petition” and adding comments.

Background Information

The Pickering Nuclear Station is North America’s 3^rd oldest and its 5^th largest nuclear station. When it closes in December 2024 it will be 53 years old.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, immediate dismantling is “the preferred decommissioning strategy” for nuclear plants. Already five nuclear stations in the U.S. have been immediately dismantled in less than ten years after they were shut down. Ontario Power Generation, however, plans to wait 30 years before beginning the dismantling of the Pickering Nuclear Station.

On January 27, 2020 Mayor Ryan and Pickering Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for the Pickering Nuclear Station to be dismantled as “expeditiously as possible” after it is shut down in keeping with the recommendation of the International Atomic Energy Agency that immediate dismantling is “the preferred decommissioning strategy” for nuclear plants.

According to a 1982 Ontario Hydro report, the Pickering Nuclear Station could be completely dismantled and decommissioned in just nine years after it is shut down.

OPG is planning to maintain the Pickering Nuclear Station’s spent nuclear fuel on site until an off-site Deep Geological Repository is in-service. According to OPG, this off-site facility “will be available no earlier than 2043.” In the interim, OPG is planning to continue to store the spent nuclear fuel on-site in conventional commercial storage buildings on the water’s edge.

Until a secure off-site storage facility is in operation, Pickering’s spent nuclear fuel should be stored on-site in above-ground, attack-resistant, reinforced-concrete vaults.

For more information, read our short report: Making the Right Choice for Pickering’s Waterfront.