Nuclear Economics

Carbo-charged nuclear

rebecca — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:00:27 -0400

Nuclear power has been an economic failure, despite being larded with subsidies and shorn of liabilities that face its competitors. Oil price hikes have not made it economic, either. read more »

The limits to nuclear: McCain shouldn’t try to follow French disaster

Lisa — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:14:48 -0400

The U.S. doesn’t have a market for the nighttime power surplus that nuclear inevitably produces.

"If France can produce 80% of its electricity with nuclear power, why can’t we?,” asks U.S. presidential candidate John McCain. Nuclear power is a cornerstone of Senator McCain’s plan to combat climate change, which he is unveiling this week. read more »

Ontario's Energy Crunch

rebecca — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:41:43 -0400

Good morning. I have some good news for you this morning. The good news is that Ontario has an easy and painless way out of the energy fix that we're in. I have some bad news for you, too. Our government doesn't know it, and, I am certain, neither do most of you in this room. Because of what you don't know, we face a future in which we all may freeze in the dark. read more »

Apocalypse now?

Lisa — Wed, 14 May 2008 10:44:33 -0400

To most of us, the consequences of a meltdown or some other catastrophic accident at a nuclear reactor are unimaginable.

To the companies in the worldwide nuclear industry, and to insurance companies, the consequences are all too imaginable -- they would be wiped out if held responsible for a malfunction that caused hundreds of billions of dollars in damage. Because reactors were not a commercial proposition, decades ago, the corporate world refused to back nuclear power. read more »

Burning in the dark

Lisa — Wed, 14 May 2008 14:44:18 -0400

Nuclear runs all night, can't be ramped up in day.

After scores of bankruptcies and bailouts, many if not most energy analysts recognize nuclear electricity for what it has been: the single biggest business disaster in history.

But nuclear power's failings extend beyond the red ink on the balance sheets to the limitations in the technology. The nuclear reactor, though efficient in medical and military applications, is ill-suited for the production of electricity in a sophisticated power market of diverse customers with diverse needs read more »

Nuclear giant plans 4 reactors; Bruce Power proposes $10B

Lisa — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:14:07 -0400

The only private operator of nuclear plants in Canada, Bruce Power LP, plans to bring nuclear power to Alberta, saying Thursday it hopes to build a $10-billion-plus generating complex near Peace River.

But experts on nuclear power were quick to note that even though nuclear generation has massive capital costs, it has a dismal track record at meeting cost estimates and construction schedules and that, once operational, the reliability of nuclear stations has been spotty, at best. read more »

Warmed-over nukes

Lisa — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:25:16 -0400

The world is whooshing to nuclear energy. Just this week, Britain announced 18 new nuclear reactor sites in its bid to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions. French President Nicolas Sarkozy is on a Mid-East nuclear-selling spree, to cash in on interest in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, and Libya. read more »

Nuke sector on upswing?

rebecca — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:08:50 -0400

Two Canadian mega-projects in works, but critics still battling

CALGARY — With two nuclear mega-projects planned for Alberta and Ontario, the sector is showing signs of growth for the first time in decades, but critics warn those sorts of major projects are fraught with risk.

On Thursday, Ontario power firm Bruce Power said it wants to build Western Canada’s first nuclear power plant near Peace River, Alta. The proposed $10-billion facility could produce enough electricity to power two million homes by 2017. read more »

The Nuclear Power Baseload Myth

rebecca — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:12:01 -0400

MR.RUBIN: Madam Chair, my comments deal with issues concerning nuclear power, and we offer them to urge this Board to do two things: To stipulate and construe the nuclear issues as broadly as possible; and, in particular, to seek mechanisms to ensure that Ontario ratepayers and taxpayers are protected from the peculiar risks presented by nuclear power. read more »

Manufactured power crisis

admin — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:33:56 -0500

The Ontario government had several objectives in entering into a sole-source contract with Bruce Power to buy electricity from Bruce's nuclear expansion. One of them, detailed in the Auditor-General's report, was to conceal the consumer impacts. read more »

Nuclear disaster

admin — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:35:38 -0500

Thanks to the report by Ontario Auditor General James McCarter, issued on the afternoon before the long weekend by the Ontario government, Ontario's electricity ratepayers are much closer to understanding what electricity from the Bruce A nuclear refurbishment will cost. The bottom line: The McGuinty government signed a disastrous deal in deciding to resurrect nuclear plants that had no cost justification.

New nuke sinkholes

admin — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:43:34 -0500

Financial Post January 14/2005
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) has cost federal taxpayers an estimated $17-billion in failed attempts to develop commercially viable nuclear reactors. Even the sales that AECL has made have proven to be wildly unprofitable, going back a generation to its perplexing reactor sale to Argentina, when AECL agreed to price its contract in pesos. Today, the federal Crown corporation is poised to blow more billions.

Re-defeat the nuclear industry

rebecca — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:14:58 -0400

Dear Friend:

The federal government, and three provincial governments, are about to sink billions more dollars into another attempt to salvage the nuclear industry, the country's least economic energy industry – and its most dangerous.

Last month, New Brunswick discovered that its nuclear reactor at Point Lepreau had cracks in its main steam pipe. Cracks in the same piece of equipment at a reactor in Japan just months before had led to an accident that boiled alive four workers and severely scalded seven others. read more »

Expose the truth about the nuclear industry

admin — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 11:44:47 -0500

We have learned that the federal government has quietly begun giving its friends in the nuclear industry new access to the public purse, in order to fund plans for massive nuclear power growth.

Canada's nuclear nabob's try to turn green

rebecca — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:28:14 -0400

For decades, nuclear power has been a promising industry. First, it promised electricity too cheap to meter, and nuclear-powered cars and airplanes. Later, it promised safe, reliable and economic electricity. Today, those promises are hard to make with a straight face, and even harder to keep: More than one-third of Canada's billion-dollar Candu reactors have stopped producing any electricity (or income), and the unsupportable debt created by Candu reactors has far surpassed $10-billion, not including the additional nuclear billions in the federal debt.