Where the parties stand on closing the Pickering Nuclear Station
We asked the major parties running in the 2018 provincial election where they stood on closing the Pickering Nuclear Station when its license expires this August. Specifically, we asked them:
- The Pickering Nuclear Station is the fourth oldest nuclear plant in North America. It was originally designed to operate for 30 years, but it has now been running for nearly half a century. Two million people live within 30 km of the Pickering station — at least twice the number of any other nuclear station on the continent.
A recent report looked at what would happen in the GTA if a major accident occurred at Pickering — the kind that took place at the Fukushima nuclear station in Japan. The report found that an accident at Pickering could lead to the evacuation of more than 650,000 people, cause 13,000 cancer deaths, and result in $125 billion in lost real estate value just for single-family homes.
Do you think that the Pickering Nuclear Station should be shut down when its licence expires this August?
2. Quebec is the fourth largest producer of water power in the world. It has the lowest electricity rates in North America. And it has a rising electricity surplus it wants to export.
Last year, the average price of Hydro Quebec’s electricity exports was 4.7 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).
At the same time, Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) price for its nuclear power was 8.1 cents per kWh. Now OPG has told the Ontario Energy Board that it needs to double that price in the next few years.
Do you think that Ontario should negotiate long-term electricity contracts with Hydro Quebec to save money, and reduce our need for higher-cost nuclear power?
Responses
PC Party – No response