STOP SMALL MODULAR REACTORS IN CANADA
The Canadian Environmental Law Association has launched an Action Page to support citizens concerned by plans for a new rush of nuclear reactors.
The page features a primer on SMRs in both English and French and a statement against SMRs which we actively invite organizations to sign on to.
The page features a primer on SMRs in both English and French and a statement against SMRs which we actively invite organizations to sign on to.
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Environmental groups, three opposition parties, oppose federal government's push for new nuclear reactors
OTTAWA, November 18, 2020 – Groups from across Canada are calling on the federal government today to halt its plans to fund experimental new small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) and to take real action against climate change by investing more in renewable energy and energy conservation and efficiency programs. Parliamentary Secretary for Natural Resources Paul Lefebvre announced that an Action Plan will be released in the next few weeks. READ THIS STORY HERE
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Critics Call Out Ontario Power Generation on
SMR Photo-Op Announcement November 14: Public interest groups say that environment and electricity consumers must be protected from Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) risky plan to build three prototype “small modular reactors” (SMRs) at the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, responding to OPG's announcement of plans to build three prototype SMRs at the Darlington nuclear station 70 km east of Toronto. READ THIS STORY HERE
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Can small nuclear reactors help Canada reach its net-zero 2050 goals? Some experts are skeptical. 'Nuclear power is like fighting world hunger with caviar,' says researcher Benjamin Sovacool. Click on the link "What On Earth 38:16" to listen.
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Small Modular Reactor (SMR) development is too slow to address the climate crisis: The 2020 World Nuclear Industry Status Report says that developing new nuclear energy is too slow to address the climate crisis – as well as more expensive – compared to renewable energy and energy efficiency. No SMRs have yet been built and the models being proposed will take a decade or more to develop.
SMRs are more expensive than renewable energy: A Canadian study found that energy from small nuclear reactors would be up to ten times the cost of renewable energy. In the past decade, the cost of building solar, wind power and battery storage has gone down dramatically, while the cost of building new nuclear reactors has gone up. Small reactors will be even more expensive per unit of power than the current large ones. Nuclear power creates fewer jobs than renewable energy: Renewable energy is one of the fastest-growing job sectors in North America. An American study found that solar energy leads to six times as many jobs as nuclear power for each gigawatt-hour of electricity generated. |
There are better sources of energy: Minister O’Regan has said repeatedly, without providing evidence, that there is no path to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear energy. In fact, on the contrary a new study of 123 countries over 25 years found that countries that invested in renewable energy lowered their carbon emissions much more than those reliant on nuclear energy.
SMRs are dirty and dangerous : The new “small” reactors, proposed to be built across Canada, will produce radioactive waste of many kinds. Some of the proposed models would extract plutonium from irradiated fuel, worsening concerns about weapons proliferation and creating new forms of radioactive waste that are especially dangerous to manage. The federal government currently has no detailed policy or strategy for what to do with radioactive waste, and no design or location for a deep underground repository where industry proposes to store high-level radioactive waste for hundreds of thousands of years. The federal government has never consulted the public about small modular reactors, which would create environmental risks and financial liabilities for Canadians. Read letter to Prime Minister HERE |
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TAKE ACTION!
This web pageThis is a "starter" web page to provide a repository of key information about the push for "small modular reactors" in Canada. It may morph into a real web site, it may not, but for now it is a place to share information and event notices about the push - and the push back - on Small Modular Reactors in Canada. If you have an item to post, please email the document (or better yet, email the link) to smrs-canada@gmail.com. Thanks.
KEY LINKS
Coalition for Responsible Energy Development in New Brunswick (CRED-NB) Canadian Environmental Law Association Beyond Nuclear Updates
In July 2019 the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency posted a notice of the "commencement" of an environmental assessment of Global First Power's proposal to construct a small modular reactor at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories operated site at Chalk River Ontario. In this first step of the EA process, the public had thirty days to comment on a project description. August 19, 2020 the CNSC issued the Record of Decision on the scope of the environmental assessment for GFP Micro Modular Reactor project. See the project registry HERE and the the CNSC page HERE Follow SMR News on Facebook
Old News HEREKey Resources
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NEWS
Critics Call Out Ontario Power Generation on SMR Photo-Op Announcement
November 14: Public interest groups say that environment and electricity consumers must be protected from Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) risky plan to build three prototype “small modular reactors” (SMRs) at the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. READ THIS STORY HERE Nov 13: Ontario Power Generation Announces Intention to Host Three "Small Modular Reactors" at Darlington Nuclear Generating Station OPG announces a "suite" of small modular reactors at the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station, with units being promoted by GE Hitachi, Terrestrial Energy and X Energy.
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Small Modular Nuclear Reactors - Not Clean, Not Small, Not Green, Not Affordable Webinar with Dr. Gordon Edwards. Watch it or read it.
Webinar on Small Modular Reactors in Canada, March 7 2019, M.V. Ramana. Click HERE
CNSC Draft Regulatory Document on Licensing SMRs - - including submissions by the nuclear industry, CELA, Northwatch, and Greenpeace
Webinar on Small Modular Reactors in Canada, March 7 2019, M.V. Ramana. Click HERE
CNSC Draft Regulatory Document on Licensing SMRs - - including submissions by the nuclear industry, CELA, Northwatch, and Greenpeace
Articles, ReportsJust released: "Eyes Wide Shut: Problems with UAMPS' Proposal to Construct NuScale Small Modular Nuclear Reactors" by M.V. Ramana. Read the Read the full report, the press release and statements by author M. V. Ramana, PhD, and from Edwin S. Lyman, PhD, Director of Nuclear Power Safety with Union of Concerned Scientists, and View video of a news conference. Septmeber 2020 Prospects for Small Modular Reactors in the UK & Worldwide, STEVE THOMAS, PAUL DORFMAN, SEAN MORRIS & M.V. RAMANA, JULY 2019 Scotland's Energy Future has no need for Nuclear, Nuclear Consulting Group, July 2019 Accident Scenarios Involving Pebble Bed High Temperature Reactors, Matthias Englerta, Friederike Frießb, and M. V. Ramana, SCIENCE & GLOBAL SECURITY, 2017 Small nuclear power reactors: Future or folly? M.V. Ramana in "The Conversation", July 24, 2017 7.18pm EDT The checkered operational history of high temperature gas-cooled reactors M. V. Ramana, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, 2016 SMRS: the Second Make Believe Nuclear Renaissance, by Dr. Gordon Edwards, Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility |
Terrestrial Energy’s IMSR® small modular reactor (in graphic form...)
Note: The fake transportation images are from NuScale's promotional materials.Nuclear Industry Summaries Perspectives on Canada's SMR Opportunity, CNL, undated, October 2017 Spin piece from the Canadian Nuclear Association: Small Modular Reactor Basics |
