No Nukes News - email Iggy!
Bischoff Angela
greenspi at web.ca
Thu Oct 22 23:37:06 EDT 2009
No Nukes News
Oct. 22 /09
"Nuclear power results in up to 25 times more carbon emissions than
wind energy, when reactor construction and uranium refining and
transport are considered."
Nov. 2009 issue of Scientific American in an article titled, "The
Path to Sustainable Energy by 2030"
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Send a quick email to Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff svp!
IgnatM at parl.gc.ca
Dear Mr. Ignatieff, I do not believe that the Government of Canada
should subsidize the construction of two new nuclear reactors at the
Darlington Nuclear Station. Ontario’s electricity needs can be met at
a lower cost, more quickly and more reliably with a combination of
energy conservation and efficiency, wind power, water power from
Quebec and small-scale but highly efficient combined heat and power
plants.
Also, if you can spare a few hours to distribute leaflets/postcards
to his constituents in Etobicoke-Lakeshore (Toronto), let me know and
I’ll set you up with a map. And if you live farther a field, I’ll
mail them to you for distribution in your own community. Thank you
for doing your part to bring on the renewable energy revolution!
- angela at cleanairalliance.org
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Our Nuclear Tragedy
The idea that a few new reactors can solve climate change is
attractive - and completely unrealistic.
But those still wavering about the balance of pros and cons should
not underestimate the knock-on effects of any commitment to new
nuclear. It will undoubtedly slow investment in new renewables. It
will reassure politicians that they don't have to do the heavy
lifting required to put energy efficiency at the heart of any
strategy. It will weaken efforts to move towards localised
distributed energy solutions (why else do you think the industry and
pro-nuclear civil servants fought so hard against feed-in tariffs for
so many years?), and it will "lock us in" to today's hugely
inefficient generation and transmission system for the next 40 years
or so.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/oct/20/nuclear-
power-reactor-olkiluoto-greenhouse
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Feds keep lid on Atomic Energy Canada sale report
The federal government said late Monday it had received a report it
commissioned on the best way to break up and sell Atomic Energy
Canada Ltd. - but refused to release the report's recommendations,
citing “commercial confidentiality considerations.”
An industry source, who works for a private sector competitor of
AECL's power business, said the Rothschild review was a difficult
one, mostly because there appeared to be little appetite in the
private sector to invest in AECL's CANDU technology. That lack of
interest is partly a result of the economic downturn - which has made
it more difficult for companies to find investment capital - but it
is also partly due to the fact that the CANDU technology is largely
seen as a niche product with a worldwide market share of less than
five per cent.
Although the federal government has sunk billions of tax dollars into
AECL over more than 50 years, the industry source said Ottawa would
be lucky to receive $300 million in any sale of the business.
http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/Feds+studying+report+Atomic+Energy
+Canada+future/2121029/story.html
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AECL engineers urge Ottawa to protect CANDU technology
A union that represents engineers and scientists at Atomic Energy of
Canada Ltd. is warning that the sale of AECL's reactor unit to a
foreign buyer could spell the end of the country's CANDU technology.
http://www.canada.com/technology/AECL+engineers+urge+Ottawa+protect
+CANDU+technology/2107755/story.html
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Huge loss expected in any AECL sale, MPs concede
No matter what the federal government decides to do with Atomic
Energy of Canada Ltd., taxpayers are unlikely to get back the
billions sunk into the crown corporation over the years, MPs conceded
yesterday.
"The buyer will require a big broom," said a former AECL employee who
also is a certified management accountant. "Basically, this is a
company with no firm prospects for future reactor sales, a steady but
small revenue stream from technology services, contingent liabilities
that amount to four or five times its annual funding and a bloated
payroll."
http://news.globaltv.com/money/Huge+loss+expected+AECL+sale+concede/
2129653/story.html#
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Minister says investors haven't discussed Lepreau 2 project with
government in months
The idea of a second nuclear reactor at Point Lepreau appears to be
on its death bed.
"If the business case doesn't work, the private sector isn't going to
move forward." Energy Minister Jack Keir
http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/front/article/830827
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A remarkable achievement
The seemingly impossible has been realized. Quietly, with no great
fanfare, approval of a five-year licence to proceed with the cleanup
and waste storage facility of low level radioactive waste in Port
Hope was announced by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC)
last Friday.
http://www.northumberlandtoday.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2135946
Note: Why not load all the wastes onto a specially designed train and
send them far away from the Great Lakes, possibly to the huge state-
of-the-art tailings pits in Northern Saskatchewan, where there are
already large volumes of long-lived radioactive wastes that will have
to be guarded forever? It was long ago determined that the geologic
and hydrologic characteristics of the Port Hope area are unsuitable
for the permanent storage of long-lived radioactive wastes. - Gordon
Edwards.
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Mounting pressure against new uranium mining and nuclear power plants
in India
http://elitestv.com/pub/2009/10/mounting-pressure-against-new-uranium-
mining-and-nuclear-power-plants
Sign the petition to the President of India against New Uranium
Mining and Nuclear Power Plants
Register your protest against the reported decision of the government
of India to take a quantum leap in installed capacity for nuclear
power generation, from the current level of 4,120 MW to 63,000 MW by
2032.
http://www.petitiononline.com/Nonukes/petition.html
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AECL in talks with India
AECL is seeking opportunities in the Indian market, given the
significant demand for electricity in the country and its inability
to sell a single reactor in the last 10 years. Out of India’s
installed power generation capacity of nearly 150,000 MW, nuclear
energy accounts for only 4,120 MW, even as it tries to close the gap
between galloping demand and deficient supply.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/10/18225938/Atomic-Energy-of-Canada-in-
tal.html?h=B
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Shifting the World to 100% Clean, Renewable Energy As Early As 2030:
Here Are The Numbers
Most of the technology needed to shift the world from fossil fuel to
clean, renewable energy already exists. Implementing that technology
requires overcoming obstacles in planning and politics, but doing so
could result in a 30 percent decrease in global power demand.
Analyzing only on-land locations with a high potential for producing
power, they found that even if wind were the only method used to
generate power, the potential for wind energy production is 5 to 15
times greater than what is needed to power the entire world. For
solar energy, the comparable calculation found that solar could
produce about 30 times the amount needed.
The study further provides examples of how a combination of renewable
energy sources could be used to meet hour-by-hour power demand,
addressing the commonly asked question, given the inherent
variability of wind speed and sunshine, can these sources
consistently produce enough power? The answer is yes.
Finally, they conclude that perhaps the most significant barrier to
the implementation of their plan is the competing energy industries
that currently dominate political lobbying for available financial
resources. But the technologies being promoted by the dominant energy
industries are not renewable and even the cleanest of them emit
significantly more carbon and air pollution than wind, water and sun
resources
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091019122954.htm
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New Agency to Lead Global Energy Push
The International Renewable Energy Agency, set up this year to lead a
global crusade for renewable energy development and sharing of
technology between the developed and developing worlds, has come a
long way in a short time.
“Irena will not deal with nuclear energy, simply because it is not
renewable,” she said in an interview. “Nuclear and renewable energy
have nothing to do with each other.”
“Besides assisting its member states on how to best promote renewable
energies nationally, Irena will raise the awareness worldwide that a
world powered by 100 percent renewables is possible,” she said. “We
want to demonstrate in Copenhagen that the renewable energy potential
is huge.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/21/business/global/21renirena.html?_r=1
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Life returns to an eerie Chernobyl
Cancer rates around Chernobyl are unusually high, 65 times normal
according to some reports. Upwards of 4,400 Ukrainian children and
adolescents have already undergone operations for thyroid cancer, the
most common consequence of radiation. In neighbouring Belarus, health
officials say 20 per cent of the country's 10 million people are
suffering from radiation-linked ailments. http://www.thestar.com/news/
world/article/711752--dimanno-life-returns-to-an-eerie-chernobyl
Chernobyl, Part 2: The accidental tourists
PRIPYAT, Ukraine – The whole city is a necropolis – dead, sinking
into a pile of ossifying bones.
Its skeletal remains are empty apartment blocks and windswept plazas,
the pavement buckling concrete with saplings squeezing up through the
cracks, and everywhere an eerie quiet that echoes with abandonment.
Here is a glimpse of a future Apocalypse, what no one will be left to
see. http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/711907--chernobyl-
part-2-the-accidental-tourists
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Families face nuclear tax on power bills
The government believes that only by artificially increasing the cost
of electricity generated by coal and gas stations through an
additional carbon levy on household bills can nuclear become more
competitive and encourage new reactors to be built.
http://headlinesrss.co.uk/?p=8303
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Depleted Uranium Weapons: The Dead Babies in Iraq and Afghanistan Are
No Joke
The horrors of the US Agent Orange defoliation campaign in Vietnam
could ultimately be dwarfed by the horrors caused by the depleted
uranium weapons which the US began using in the 1991 Gulf War (300
tons), and which it has used much more extensively--and in more
urban, populated areas--in the Iraq War and the now intensifying
Afghanistan War.
The nuclear waste material from nuclear power plants, DU as it is
known, is what is removed from the power plants’ spent fuel rods and
is essentially composed of the uranium isotope U-238 as well as U-236
(a product of nuclear reactor fission, not found in nature), as well
as other trace radioactive elements. Once simply a nuisance for the
industry, that still has no permanent way to dispose of the dangerous
stuff, it turns out to be an ideal metal for a number of weapons
uses, and has been capitalized on by the Pentagon.
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net/?q=node/400
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Nuclear emissions report causes concern for Peace River residents
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) released a report in
September 2009 on radioactive emissions from Canada's nuclear
reactors that suggests Bruce Power has been misleading Peace River
residents since their first public meeting in early 2008.
The report states that tritium, iodine 131, noble gases, radioactive
particulate and carbon 14 are released to the air by every nuclear
reactor in Canada. Further, all nuclear reactors release tritium,
gross beta-gamma activity and carbon 14 in their liquid waste.
http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/letters/story.html?
id=d6ffe2fd-3757-4aac-ab2f-f2b48fbf935c#
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Nuclear Protest/Picket
3-6 PM on Sunday October 25 and Monday October 26
in front of the Ottawa Hampton Inn at Vanier Parkway and Coventry Road
The Council for Clean and Reliable Electricity is pretending to be an
impartial forum in order to give themselves more credibility as they
promote nuclear power as a "clean, affordable and reliable source of
electricity". The group openly states that their role is to
influence public policy and decision-makers. It is holding a
conference on nuclear power in Ottawa on October 25 and 26. All of
the speakers and panelists at this forum for "open discussion" are in
favour of nuclear power.
More info re: the protest: Wolfe Erlichman, cerlichman at yahoo.com,
613-273-3986
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Keep Alberta Nuclear Free! – Rally at the Legislature
Edmonton, Alberta
Tues. Oct. 27, noon
Say NO to the idea of building nuclear power reactors – not now, not
ever!
Stand with us and tell government “Start investing in a green energy
future”.
http://www.nuclearfreealberta.ca/comingevents.html
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Veterans Against Nuclear Arms presents:
Why is it Time for an Arctic Nuclear Weapons-free Zone?
With Phyllis Creighton
Tues. Oct. 27, 11 a.m., sandwiches and tea as 12:15 p.m.
St. Andrew’s United Church, 117 Bloor Street East (Bloor and Yonge),
Toronto
All welcome.
For more info: atobias at primus.ca or 416 423 8523.
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Sat. Oct. 24th is International Day of Climate Action
Join people around the world to take a stand for a safe climate future!
So far, 4,000 events are planned for the Oct. 24th international day
of action on climate change including hundreds in Canada.
If you’re in Toronto, meet at 2 pm at Queen's Park, Toronto http://
www.torontoclimatecampaign.org
If you’re in Ottawa, meet at Parliament Hill at 2 p.m. http://
cday.atypical.ca/about/
If you’re in Edmonton, meet at the AB Legislature at 1 p.m. http://
www.350.org/edmonton
Find out what’s going on in your city: http://350.org
Send your message now to Canada’s Prime Minister and leaders in the
House of Commons to let them know that you’re ready for Canada to
sign an ambitious, fair and binding agreement to safeguard our
future. http://www.kintera.org/c.mqLVIYOuGlF/b.5493933/k.8C35/
Action_item__climate_summit/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?
tr=y&auid=5487314
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The Age of Stupid
Sat. Oct. 24, 6 pm
Sidney Smith Hall, room 2102, 100 St. George St., Toronto
$10
Sponsored by U of T Greens
The Age of Stupid is the new four-year epic from McLibel director
Franny Armstrong. Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man
living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking at old footage
from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had
the chance?
http://www.ageofstupid.net/#
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GEAA stakeholder session October 26 2009
Monday Oct. 26, 8:30 a.m. – 1 p.m
In light of recent advancement on the implementation of the Green
Energy and Green Economy Act, including the Feed-in tariff (FIT)
program, local content requirements and the Renewable Energy
Approvals (REA) process, the Green Energy Act Alliance is pleased to
invite you to a stakeholder information update session.
http://www.greenenergyact.ca/Page.asp?
PageID=1209&ContentID=1323&SiteNodeID=222&BL_ExpandID=
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Home Energy Efficiency Q&A Info Night
Are you wondering how you can turn your home into an energy efficient
green home? Have questions about home efficiency grants and
incentives? Wondering about if you can benefit from geothermal?
Solar energy? Thinking about where to start, how to put together your
energy efficiency plan and what your budget should be?
Have your questions answered by the experts at Village Technologies,
Toronto’s leading high-performance home retrofit company and
affiliate partner of the City of Toronto’s Better Building Partnership.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009 at 7pm
The upstairs meeting room at the Carrot Common at 348 Danforth
Avenue, just seconds from the Chester subway stop, Toronto
Free.
RSVP to Gabriel Draven - Village Technologies
[gabriel at villagetechnologies.ca]
www.villagetechnologies.ca
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Angela Bischoff
Outreach Director
Ontario Clean Air Alliance
Tel: 416 926 1907 x 246
625 Church Street, #402
Toronto, ON M4Y 2G1
angela at cleanairalliance.org
www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca
www.cleanairalliance.org
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