DAVID COON, Executive Director, Conservation Council
The Telegraph-Journal’s editorial, “Get tough with AECL,” places all the blame for the Point Lepreau refurbishment fiasco on AECL, but they forget our history.
The delays and cost overruns are the kinds of risks that led New Brunswick’s Public Utilities Board to conclude that the refurbishment was not in the public interest. Read More…
Sept-Îles sans URANIUM
Sept-Îles, le 4 décembre 2009 — Sept-Îles Sans Uranium appuie les médecins qui avisent le ministre de la Santé, M. Yves Bolduc, et, ce faisant, le gouvernement du Québec qu’ils se voient obligés de quitter la région puisque l’activité minière uranifère continue malgré tous les dangers de la radioactivité.
Read More…
Parliament’s Natural Resources Committee is currently reviewing the Harper government’s proposed Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act (NLCA), which would relieve the nuclear industry from paying for the damages caused by an accident or terrorist attack at a nuclear station in Canada.
The NLCA requires reactor operators to carry only $650 million in insurance for Chernobyl type accidents – about half of the minimum requirement in other Western countries. Any costs above $650 million would be paid for by the Canadian taxpayer. This is yet another massive subsidy to the nuclear industry.
Here’s how you can help.
Take Action:
1) Call and email members of the Natural Resources Committee. This is urgent because the committee is currently voting on each clause of the bill. Tell them you think it should be required to carry at par with international standards and carry full responsibility in the case of an accident. Contact information is below.
2) Send Letters to the Editor or Press Releases from your organization to local and national media. You can find copies of media releases sent out by other groups below. Here’s an example of a release: http://bit.ly/87JrWK
3) Stay in Touch. A Google group has been set up for activists interested in opposing the NLCA. You can join the group here: http://groups.google.ca/group/stop-nuclear-subsidies
Greenpeace has filed a petition to the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development on Lepreau refit funding. The federal government must respond before March 2010. The petition argues that the federal taxpayer is increasingly being exposed to financial risks for delayed and over-budget projects like Lepreau.
For more information: http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/search/article/851226
The new NDP government in Nova Scotia has legislated a ban on the exploration and mining of uranium in Nova Scotia.
Read the Chronicle-Herald story.
On Monday, Oct. 5, 2009, more than 400 people marched through the streets of Saskatoon to oppose plans for nuclear power in the province of Saskatchewan.
The rally chants included: “No nukes, no nukes, radium makes me puke.” They carried signs saying “Green is Clean” and “Don’t decide for us.”
The Saskatchewan government is currently considering uranium development proposals in the province.
By Janice Harvey
I’m pretty sure I wrote a column back when the decision to refurbish Lepreau was made in which I called the idea of finishing the project in 18 months and for $1.4 billion a pipedream. I probably reminded people of what the Public Utilities Board, as it was known then, had said earlier of refurbishment – that the technical difficulties and potential for expensive problems were such that the projected cost of the project was unreliable. Therefore, said the PUB, given the availability of alternatives for which the cost is very reliably estimated, refurbishing Point Lepreau would not be in the public interest.
Read More…
Conservation Council of New Brunswick News Release
August 5, 2009
The Conservation Council wants NB Power and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to release the results of their safety inspection of Point Lepreau’s reactor housing - known as the calandria. During the public hearings into the Lepreau refurbishment, the former Vice-President of NB Power Nuclear Rod White described the discovery of faults in the reactor calandria as a “show-stopper” for the refurbishment.
AECL has now completely dismantled Point Lepreau’s nuclear reactor, allowing for a first-time-ever inspection of the calandria interior to determine whether its welds are in sufficient condition to permit another 25 years of operation.
“The integrity of the welds in the calandria shell must be beyond reproach to safely contain the enormous amount of radiation created during nuclear fission,” said David Coon, Executive Director for the Conservation Council. “That’s why we want the results of the inspections released to the public,” said Coon.
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Contact: David Coon, Executive Director
Francophone Spokesperson, Julie Michaud
(506) 458-8747
Communiqué de presse du Conseil de Conservation du Nouveau-Brunswick
Le Conseil de conservation veut qu’Énergie NB et la Commission canadienne de sûreté nucléaire publient les résultats de l’inspection de l’intégrité de l’enveloppe du réacteur de Pointe-Lepreau que l’on appelle calandre. Pendant les audiences publiques concernant la restauration de Lepreau, l’ancien vice-président d’Énergie NB, Rod White, avait décrit des fissures dans la calandre d’un réacteur comme étant « paralysant » pour la restauration.
EACL a maintenant complètement démonté le réacteur nucléaire, permettant ainsi, pour la première fois, l’inspection de l’intérieur de la calandre afin de déterminer si les joints soudés sont en condition suffisamment acceptable pour permettre 25 autres années de fonctionnement.
« L’intégrité des soudures de la calandre doit être sans reproche pour contenir en toute sécurité les quantités énormes de radiation créées durant la fission nucléaire, » explique David Coon, directeur général du Conseil de conservation. « C’est pourquoi nous demandons que les résultats des inspections soient révélés au public, » affirme Coon.
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Personnes-ressources : David Coon, directeur général
Julie Michaud, porte parole francophone
(506) 458-8747
