No Nukes News: What is ON waiting for?

[Angela Bischoff]

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Jan. 29,2018☢ Massachusetts gets a great water power deal from Quebec What is Ontario waiting for? Quebec is making it clear it won’t wait forever for Ontario to come to its senses and will prioritize deals with those jurisdictions that are ready to reap the benefits of its low-cost, renewable power right now. #ClosePickering #BuyQuebecPower



The World

☢ Britain looking for sites to host radioactive waste “Since there is no permanent solution for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel, the responsible thing to do would be to stop producing more of it instead of just passing the radioactive buck to future generations,” Greenpeace UK said. Here’s more: “The geological setting needs to be able to isolate the radioactive waste from the surface for the required timescale, which is hundreds of thousands of years.”

☢ The Swedish Environmental Court Says NO to the final repository for spent nuclear fuel – a triumph for the environmental movement and the science

☢ Hacking nuclear systems is the ultimate cyber threat. Are we prepared? The stakes are high for this multibillion-dollar sector: a cyberattack could, in theory, cripple a generator and lead to the release of radiation or the theft of fissile material. The Nuclear Threat Initiative has tallied about two-dozen cyber incidents since 1990.

☢ Suit against nuclear subsidy moves forward US opponents are suing over a 2016 decision to allow subsidies for the continued operation of three nuclear stations around Lake Ontario. “It doesn’t serve the public interest or even follow the law that New York’s ratepayers are required to pay to keep these nuclear plants open, when they are no longer economically viable without a subsidy.”

☢ Selective abortion and radioactive contamination in Japan In April 2013, Japan’s government approved 26 hospitals to conduct noninvasive prenatal genetic testing, resulting in increasing number of selective abortion of babies with disabilities which accelerated post-Fukushima.

☢ Fukushima heroes on both sides of the Pacific still fighting effects of radiation, stress and guilt Following the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami of 2011, selfless Japanese workers battled nuclear-reactor meltdown, and thousands of US troops provided disaster relief. Many are now counting the cost to their mental and physical health

☢ Record radiation levels found in Swedish wild boar Even though it has been over 30 years since the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, radiation levels found in Swedish wild boar meat are the highest ever measured.

☢ Cancer strikes one in four children exposed to Moruroa blast The genetic conditions were found mainly in children whose parents and grandparents had been exposed to radiation from the atmospheric weapons tests 1966 - 1974.

☢ France rules out increasing CO2 as it closes nuclear reactors The centrist government of French President Emmanuel Macron has launched a year-long debate about energy policy before deciding in early 2019 on the future share of nuclear energy in France’s power production. It now stands at 75% (ON is 60%).

☢ Nuclear concerns push 'Doomsday Clock' closer to midnight Mounting concerns about the possibility of a nuclear war, along with US President Donald Trump's "unpredictability" have pushed the symbolic "Doomsday Clock" to two minutes before midnight, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists said.Ontario

☢ Buying Quebec hydro makes more sense than rebuilding nuclear plants Why are we rebuilding nuclear reactors that have to run 24/7 when demand is falling and supply patterns are being rapidly changed by the introduction of low-cost renewable sources?

☢ Who’s managing your nuclear waste? The 70-year-old Chalk River site, created to research and develop nuclear weapons, has over half a million cubic metres of radioactive waste, including over 100 unwanted contaminated buildings. A for-profit consortium proposes to bulldoze these and other radioactive wastes from across Canada – 1 million cubic metres in all – into a giant mound less than a kilometre from the Ottawa River, source of drinking water for millions, to abandon there forever.

☢ Should residents trust nuclear burial plans? A consortium of five profit-oriented multinational corporations contracted by the feds in 2015 to deal with the Canadian government’s “Nuclear Legacy Liabilities” has decided that the Winnipeg River is an OK place to abandon very long-lived radioactive wastes. Same group doing same thing at Chalk River, ON and Rolphton, ON too.

☢ Indigenous reps oppose 10-year license extension for Chalk Labs operation saying there has been no meaningful consultation, and they cannot accept the risks associated with the storage and transportation of radioactive waste. “Further, we reject the storage of radioactive waste near water bodies. Given the CNL site proximity to the Ottawa River, this license must not be granted.”Renewables and Conservation

☼ Canadians back shift to renewable energy: poll An overwhelming majority of respondents supported renewable energy sources, such as solar (93%), water (91%) and wind (86%) while nuclear support was weak (45%).

☼ President Trump Slaps Tariffs on Solar Panels in Major Blow to Renewable Energy By some projections, Trump's new tariff could kill 88,000 solar jobs — more people than the entire U.S. coal industry employs today. Trump’s attack on solar also masks an epic crisis in the nuclear industry.

☼ Trump Solar Tariff May Be Opening Salvo in Global Trade War 30% tariffs on Chinese solar panels are the latest action by Trump to undermine the economics of renewables in apparent service to his vocal backers in the fossil fuel sector. Others think it might launch a US manufacturing renaissance while others think it’s not a big deal since costs are falling so fast, including the RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute).

☼ 5 Reasons Why The Renewable Energy Future Can’t Be Stopped Good news from the Rocky Mountain Institute

☼ Scientists Investigated Wind Farm Noise For 3 Years Scientists in Germany have been studying the effects of wind farm noise on nearby residents and have discovered that not everyone is annoyed by the wind farms, but that those who are can sometimes bring the problem on by themselves with critical attitudes towards the wind farm.Take Action!

☢ Please contact Interim PC Leader Vic Fedeli [vic.fedeli at pc.ola.org], potential PC Leadership candidate Caroline Mulroney [caroline at carolinemulroney.ca] and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath [ahorwath-qp at ndp.on.ca] and ask them to champion a long-term deal with Hydro Quebec to lower our electricity bills. More info here.

☢ Sign our petitions to Close Pickering and to Buy Quebec Power. And share them with your friends. Watch our 2 min. video here. 

☢ Stop OPG's  Nuclear Waste Dump Before It's Too Late Learn more about OPG’s nuke waste dump proposal in Kincardine, ON, and write Minister McKenna, Premier Wynne and PM Trudeau here.

☢ Tell the Japanese government: don’t dump nuclear waste into the ocean!

☢ Can you spare a few hours to leaflet blitz your neighbourhood mailboxes? Help us make the closure of the Pickering nuclear station a public issue. Contact: angela at cleanairalliance.org

☢ Order your free KI (anti-thyroid-cancer) pills here if you live within 50 km of an ON nuclear facility - that includes all of Toronto and beyond. Download your anti-thyroid cancer posters here to post in your office, school, or local cafe.

☢ Canada – Sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Last year 122 member states of the United Nations voted to approve the text of a Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, but the Nuclear Weapons States voted against it as did most NATO countries including Canada. This petition asks Canada to sign the Treaty.Events

☼ Project Drawdown Wed. Jan. 31, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. OCAD University, 100 McCaul St, Auditorium, Toronto. Project Drawdown, founded by author and environmentalist, Paul Hawken, is a scientifically based, comprehensive plan to implement the top 80 solutions to reverse global warming by 2050.

☼ Good Investment Fair Wed. Feb, 21, Centre for Social Innovation, 720 Bathurst St. Toronto. Want to earn good financial returns while supporting green energy? Participating organizations include: Community Energy Development Co-operative, CoPower, SolarShare and more.
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