BULLETINS - SMRs Information Task Force

Re: BULLETINS - SMRs Information Task Force

Postby Oscar » Mon Jul 21, 2025 11:48 am

Bulletin No. 16 • June 2025 -

Tariff threats spur need for “east-west” electricity integration


Canada must focus on increasing our energy security.

Unfortunately Ontario is increasing reliance on the US by building four US GE-Hitachi nuclear reactors which require US enriched uranium fuel.

This is not the time to increase our economic and energy dependency on the US. Sharing renewable electricity interprovincially can cut that dependency.

As Prime Minister Carney has suggested, Canada can be an energy superpower, but only if we follow the world by focusing on low-cost, reliable renewable energy.

We do not need a power corridor from coast to coast. We need more east-west interconnection of regional and distributed transmission systems. This would allow the growth and sharing of new community-based, low-cost renewable energy, creating local green jobs while meeting Canadian needs.

The renewable grid would build on our existing hydroelectric base and draw in new power from our abundant wind and solar resources.

For example, the Ontario government recently introduced an act opening procurements to renewable power from Manitoba and Quebec. This corresponded with Manitoba announcing 500 MW of renewable power available after ending US export contracts. Quebec's massive hydro reservoirs are a giant battery to support renewables in eastern provinces.

When connected, integrated renewable and storage systems can optimize generation, increasing grid stability while providing redundancies to deal with variable weather or unplanned outages.

Importantly, an integrated renewable grid would avoid the high costs of large new centralized fossil and nuclear power plants while eliminating toxic emissions and wastes associated with them.

The federal government should encourage greater coordination and integration of provincial and territorial systems through climate policies and financial support.

By coordinating and connecting distributed regional and community grids, we can create a resilient, renewable, clean and affordable electricity system for all Canadians.

- - - -

Visit smrs-info.ca to learn more

The SMRs Education Task Force is a network of groups in Canada concerned and active on the nuclear file. Together we have many decades of experience providing information to Canadians about nuclear issues, including the proposed small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). We are providing this bulletin free of charge to encourage more informed awareness of SMRs and their potential implications for communities across the country.
Oscar
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Re: BULLETINS - SMRs Information Task Force

Postby Oscar » Mon Jul 21, 2025 11:52 am

Bulletin Number 17 - July 2025

"Local opposition grows to the Peace River Nuclear Power Project."

SMRs INFORMATION TASK FORCE

[ https://campaign-statistics.com/browser ... rvv-1Dcj9h ]

"The 300 members of the Society of High Prairie Regional Environmental Action Committee (REAC) in Alberta are concerned and opposed to the proposal to build four large CANDU reactors in their region.

At public meetings, REAC members questioned why an additional 4,800 megawatts of electricity is needed. Local communities are being asked to accept routine radioactive air emissions and the long-term storage of nuclear waste. Contaminants deposited in the forest ‘re-volatize’ into the air when burned, adding cumulative effects.

CANDU reactors operating in other provinces have experienced regular shutdowns due to equipment failures and also planned and unplanned radioactive releases. Yet preparatory documents for the Peace River CANDU project hardly mention potential health issues at all.

Federal taxpayers are supporting the multinational company AtkinsRéalis (formerly SNC Lavalin) to develop its new ‘MONARK’ CANDU design in Alberta. The CANDU reactors built in Ontario and New Brunswick have been financial boondoggles.

The citizens of the Peace River area overwhelmingly rejected nuclear proposals in 2009, and yet here they are again. REAC’s additional concerns include:

- Water lost to evaporative cooling
- Storage of ‘heavy’ (radioactive) water
- Water availability for severe accidents
- Emergency preparedness – no Vacuum Building included in Model Plan

Project proponents say: “...severe accidents are not realistically expected during the plant's lifetime.” REAC says: emergency preparedness includes having realistic expectations to plan for severe accidents.

Among the many unanswered questions:

Are there plans to compensate local farmers and traditional land users in case of a severe incident?

What provisions are in place for monitoring locally produced milk, meat and leafy vegetables for radioactive iodine and cesium following a severe nuclear accident?

What methods will be used to decontaminate buildings and remediate contaminated soil?
_ _ _

Visit smrs-info.ca to learn more

The SMRs Education Task Force is a network of groups in Canada concerned and active on the nuclear file. Together we have many decades of experience providing information to Canadians about nuclear issues, including the proposed small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). We are providing this bulletin free of charge to encourage more informed awareness of SMRs and their potential implications for communities across the country."
Oscar
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Posts: 9981
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm

Re: BULLETINS - SMRs Information Task Force

Postby Oscar » Tue Oct 07, 2025 3:42 pm

Bulletin number 20 - Boosting Nuclear Power Is Not Nation-Building

October 2025 - La version française suit

[ https://campaign-statistics.com/browser ... vlvq-gy2qC ]

Prime Minister Mark Carney has released his priority “nation-building projects,” including the Darlington New Nuclear Project (DNNP) in Ontario. He claims this project will “build Canada strong,” but nuclear power is the slowest, most expensive way of providing electricity, far greater than the costs of renewables and energy storage.

Canada’s nuclear regulator has already fast-tracked the DNNP, awarding a construction license despite the lack of a credible environmental assessment or an approved design.

The projected cost of the DNNP’s “small modular reactor” (SMR) is in the billions, greatly exceeding the $970 million contribution from the Canada Infrastructure Bank in 2022. There is essentially no interest by private investors in nuclear power owing to its substantial financial risks, so it is funded by taxpayers and ratepayers.

The BWRX-300 SMR planned for the DNNP is American, made by GE Hitachi. Its projected completion date is 2030, though almost all reactors built in the past have overshot their expected completion dates by years, often decades. Canada would have to buy enriched uranium fuel for this American reactor from the U.S. because enriched fuel is not produced in Canada.

Many unanswered questions remain about this dubious “nation-building project”. Prime Minister Carney may hope that Canada will become a global energy “superpower” by selling SMRs all over the world, but how likely is this? The BWRX-300 is untested technology with no performance track record. SMRs are far from being built at scale to bring the exorbitant price down. Canada has not sold a reactor since the 1970s. Canada would have an American reactor, reliant on American fuel, and subject to the whims of an unpredictable American administration.

Spending billions of taxpayer dollars on nuclear power, using an American reactor that uses American fuel, when cheaper, cleaner technologies already exist, does not make sense as a “nation-building project.”

= = = = = =

Le nucléaire ne construira pas un Canada fort

Le premier ministre Mark Carney a inclus le nouveau projet nucléaire Darlington (NPND) parmi ses projets prioritaires « d’intérêt national ». Il affirme que ce projet ontarien « construira un Canada fort » même si l’énergie nucléaire est la façon la plus lente et la plus coûteuse de produire de l’électricité. Elle coûte beaucoup plus cher que les énergies renouvelables avec stockage d’énergie.

L’organisme de règlementation du nucléaire au Canada avait déjà accéléré le NPND : il a accordé le permis de construire sans évaluation environnementale crédible et avant qu’on ait choisi un modèle de réacteur.

On prévoit maintenant que le « petit réacteur modulaire » du NPND coûtera des milliards$, bien au-delà des 970 millions$ que la Banque de l’infrastructure du Canada a fournis en 2022. L’énergie nucléaire présente de tels risques financiers qu’elle n’attire pratiquement aucun investisseur privé. Son financement repose donc sur les contribuables et les consommateurs.

Le NPND sera doté d’un réacteur américain, le BWRX-300 conçu chez GE Hitachi. On prévoit terminer ce « petit réacteur modulaire » (PRM) en 2030 mais presque tous les réacteurs actuels sont entrés en service plusieurs années après la date prévue, des décennies plus tard, bien souvent. Pour alimenter ce réacteur américain, le Canada devra aussi acheter de l’uranium enrichi aux États-Unis puisque nous n’en produisons pas chez nous.

Ce douteux « projet d’édification nationale » soulève beaucoup de questions. Le premier ministre Carney peut bien espérer que le Canada devienne une « superpuissance » énergétique en vendant ces PRM au monde entier mais est-ce vraisemblable? Aucun BWRX-300 n’a jamais été construit et mis à l’épreuve. Nous sommes très loin d’une production en série qui permettait de réduire leur coût exorbitant. Le Canada n’a pas vendu un seul réacteur depuis les années ‘70. Le Canada aurait donc un réacteur américain, dépendant d’un combustible américain et soumis aux caprices d’une administration américaine imprévisible.

Il n’y a aucun « intérêt national » à consacrer des milliards$ de fonds publics à l’énergie nucléaire, avec un réacteur américain qui brûle du combustible américain, quand il existe d’autres technologies moins chères et moins polluantes.

Le groupe de travail sur l'éducation relative aux PRM est un réseau de groupes canadiens préoccupés et actifs dans le dossier nucléaire. Ensemble, nous avons plusieurs décennies d'expérience dans la fourniture d'informations aux Canadiens sur les questions touchant au nucléaire, y compris les projets de petits réacteurs nucléaires modulaires (PRM). Nous fournissons ce bulletin gratuitement afin d'encourager une prise de conscience plus éclairée des PRM et de leurs implications potentielles pour les communautés à travers le pays.


SMRs Information Task Force -
Le groupe de travail sur l'éducation relative aux PRM
Visit smrs-info.ca to learn more.

1 855 225 8055
contact@smrs-info.ca
Oscar
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Posts: 9981
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm

Re: BULLETINS - SMRs Information Task Force

Postby Oscar » Tue Nov 04, 2025 8:23 pm

Bulletin number 21 • November 2025

"A costly way to depend on others"

[ https://stop-smrs.weebly.com/bulletins.html ]

La version française suit

Prime Minister Carney is giving two billion dollars of taxpayers’ money to a “nation-building” project that already has three strikes against it.

Touted as the western world’s first small modular nuclear reactor, to be built in Ontario, the BWRX is an American design, requiring enriched uranium fuel that must be purchased from a non-Canadian supplier, and is too expensive to be sold abroad. Three strikes.

BWRX is a Boiling Water Reactor, version 10. Globally, there are more boiling water reactors shut down than operating. The three that melted down in Japan in 2011 were precursors of BWRX.

The only Canadian-designed boiling water reactor, Gentilly-1 in Quebec, was a technical and economic fiasco. G-1 ran for only 183 days over six years and will soon be dismantled at great expense.

The first BWRX, to be built on the Darlington site, will be the most expensive electrical power plant in the world. Ontario Power Generation anticipates spending $7.7 billion for 300 megawatts of power. That’s $25,700 per kilowatt installed – four times the cost of renewable energy.

The only other nuclear plants in North America to get a construction licence in the last 45 years were four large reactors, two in South Carolina and two in Georgia. The South Carolina reactors were never finished, as Westinghouse went bankrupt over the $9 billion loss from that dead-end project.

The two reactors in Georgia were finished, at the staggering cost of $16,500 US per kilowatt – that’s $23,500 Canadian per kilowatt. The Georgia project has been identified as the costliest electrical capacity ever built – but the BWRX cost is higher.

OPG says enriched fuel may be acquired from the USA or France. But both countries, unable to meet their own demand, are still buying enriched uranium from Russia. With BWRX, will Canada also become a Russian client?

= = =

The SMRs Education Task Force is a network of groups in Canada concerned and active on the nuclear file. Together we have many decades of experience providing information to Canadians about nuclear issues, including the proposed small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). We are providing this bulletin free of charge to encourage more informed awareness of SMRs and their potential implications for communities across the country.

SMRs Information Task Force -
Visit smrs-info.ca to learn more.
1 855 225 8055
contact@smrs-info.ca

= = = =


Bulletin numéro 21 • Novembre 2025

Payer si cher pour dependre de l'etranger?

Le premier ministre Carney donne deux milliards de "nos" dollars à un projet de « reconstruction nationale » qui se heurte à trois obstacles.

C'est le BWRX, que l'on doit construire en Ontario et qui sera le premier petit réacteur modulaire occidental. Par contre, il est de conception américaine et il va consommer de l'uranium enrichi que nous ne fabriquons pas chez nous. Troisième obstacle, il va coûter trop cher pour qu'on puisse le vendre à l'étranger.

Le BWRX est un réacteur à eau bouillante, version 10 . Il y a dans le monde un plus grand nombre de réacteurs à eau bouillante fermés que de réacteurs en service. Les trois qui ont fondu au Japon en 2011 étaient des ancêtres du BWRX.

Le seul réacteur à eau bouillante conçu au Canada a été un fiasco technique et économique. C'est Gentilly-1, au Québec. Il n'a fonctionné que 183 jours en six ans et on devra bientôt le démanteler à grands frais.

Le premier BWRX sera construit sur le site de Darlington et sera la centrale électrique la plus chère au monde. Ontario Power Generation (OPG) prévoit payer 7,7 milliards de dollars pour 300 mégawatts. C'est 25 700 dollars par kilowatt, quatre fois le coût des énergies renouvelables.

À peine quatre centrales nucléaires ont obtenu un permis de construction en Amérique du Nord depuis 45 ans, deux en Caroline du Sud et deux en Géorgie. Les réacteurs de Caroline du Sud n'ont jamais été achevés car Westinghouse a fait faillite après avoir brûlé 9 milliards de dollars dans l'aventure.

Quant aux deux réacteurs de Géorgie, ils ont été achevés au prix de 23 500 dollars canadiens par kilowatt. C'est la puissance électrique la plus coûteuse jamais construite mais le BWRX nous coûtera encore plus cher!

OPG prévoit acheter son combustible enrichi aux États-Unis ou en France. Pourtant, ces deux pays sont incapables de répondre à leur propre demande et doivent acheter de l'uranium enrichi en Russie. Le BWRX nous forcera-t-il à dépendre aussi de la Russie?

- - - -

The SMRs Education Task Force is a network of groups in Canada concerned and active on the nuclear file. Together we have many decades of experience providing information to Canadians about nuclear issues, including the proposed small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). We are providing this bulletin free of charge to encourage more informed awareness of SMRs and their potential implications for communities across the country.

Le groupe de travail sur l'éducation relative aux PRM est un réseau de groupes canadiens préoccupés et actifs dans le dossier nucléaire. Ensemble, nous avons plusieurs décennies d'expérience dans la fourniture d'informations aux Canadiens sur les questions touchant au nucléaire, y compris les projets de petits réacteurs nucléaires modulaires (PRM). Nous fournissons ce bulletin gratuitement afin d'encourager une prise de conscience plus éclairée des PRM et de leurs implications potentielles pour les communautés à travers le pays.

SMRs Information Task Force -
Le groupe de travail sur l'éducation relative aux PRM
Visit smrs-info.ca to learn more.

1 855 225 8055
contact@smrs-info.ca
Oscar
Site Admin
 
Posts: 9981
Joined: Wed May 03, 2006 3:23 pm

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