GAIA

GAIA

Candu won’t do   (Old post but relevant today still)

On Sunday, September 19, 2010, I heard a radio ad on 680 News urging the Canadian federal government take actions so that more Candu nuclear reactors could be built and sold. China is mentioned as a prospective customer as well as Ontario itself.

The ad makes some interesting claims and statements:

1. A Candu reactor has a 60 year life span.

3. Ontario’s Pickering nuclear power plant will need to replace its reactors
starting in 2020. (This is true.)


While the above 2 ‘facts’ make nuclear power and Pickering seem a great success and long term value -- i.e., 60 years, the following information taken directly from the Ontario Power Generation website tell a different story
[ http://www.opg.com/power/nuclear/pickering/].

Pickering A - the first four of the Pickering reactors - went into service in 1971 and continued to operate safely until 1997 when it was placed in voluntary lay-up as part of what was then Ontario Hydro's nuclear improvement program. In September 2003, Unit four, was returned to commercial operation. Unit 1 was returned to commerical operation in November 2005. Units 2 and 3 remain in a safe shutdown state.Pickering B - units five, six, seven and eight - continue to operate safely since they were brought into service in 1983. They have a combined capacity of approximately 2,100 megawatts.



SO HOW TRUSTWORTHY IS THIS RADIO AD’S INFORMATION?
-- NOT VERY.


Why, because:

Pickering A has had numerous problems requiring years of ‘down time’ and at a projected cost of billions of dollars. Repairs on one reactor alone ran 900 million dollars over budget, and took more years than expected to complete (See Wikipedia.) So other rteactors, as mentioned above, have been left shut down as too expensive to fix!!!

Pickering A, the older part dates only from 1971. In 2020 Pickering A will only be 39 years old, so why phase out or replace its reactors if they are expected to ‘live’ for 60 years – i.e., until 2031??

Why shut reactors down 10 years before the end of their life expectancy?



BOTTOM LINE:

As far as I am concerned, the Candu just won’t do.

It is a financial and dependability fiasco -- for Ontario or any other buyer.

Building more of them to sell to clueless foreigners is unethical and will backfire on Canada.


P.S. End of November, 2010 - The Ontario government is soon to release its 20 year energy plan and expects ½ of Ontario’s future energy to be NUCLEAR. Existing and/or unusable reactors will be ‘refurbished’ and 2 new reactors will be built.

Heaven help Ontarians on 2 fronts: billions of dollars of cost overruns and years of delay, and increased chances of radioactive leaks and nuclear meltdown.