Phase Out Ontario’s Pickering Nuclear Station And Save $850 Million Per Year

A Submission from the Ontario Clean Air Alliance

Toronto, May 28 – The Pickering A Nuclear Station in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario  is the highest cost nuclear plant in North America while the Pickering B Station is the 5^th highest cost.

Ontario’s aging Pickering nuclear power plant, located along the north shores of Lake Ontario in the Greater Toronto Area, is sucking more than its share out of our wallets..

The good news is that the operating licences for the aging Pickering reactors expire in 2014 and 2015. Phasing out these high-cost reactors would reduce our electricity bills by $850 million per year or 5%.

But despite these potential savings, Ontario Power Generation (OPG) is seeking permission from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Premier Kathleen Wynne to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to extend the operating lives of these aging high-cost reactors for another four to six years.

This doesn’t make sense since Ontario’s demand for electricity is falling and we have much lower cost options to keep our lights on (e.g., energy efficiency investments and hydro-electric imports from Quebec).

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission hearing on OPG’s proposal will take place on May 29 – 31 in Pickering (watch it live here). The CNSC, however, will not consider whether extending the life of these old reactors makes economic sense. That’s why Premier Wynne must step in and save Ontarians close to a billion dollars a year by ordering the phase-out of the Pickering reactors ASAP.

Click here to tell the Premier that we must avoid another electricity expenditure fiasco – don’t waste our hard-earned money rebuilding this aging and outdated facility!

You can learn more about the work of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance by visiting its website at http://cleanairalliance.org/ .

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