Category: Coalition news

Successive New Brunswick governments have been bewitched by two nuclear fantasies: first, its beleaguered public utility NB Power can connect two experimental reactors to the electricity grid, and second, the small province can successfully run a nuclear power reactor.

Holt plans to re-convene the New Brunswick Legislature before the end of November. At that point the two SMR start-ups will be on life support. The Point Lepreau reactor will still be mothballed with no confirmed start-up date. Each day the reactor is down costs NB Power $1-million or more, threatening the new government’s finances.

Keeping the Point Lepreau and SMR fantasies alive will require considerable effort from the new government. Susan Holt’s handling of the nuclear file will be an early test – both of her leadership and her commitment to wishful thinking.

Read the full commentary by CRED-NB core member Susan O’Donnell in the NB Media Co-op, HERE.

CRED-NB is a signatory with 35 other groups, led by Ecojustice, to a letter to Prime Minister Trudeau asking for a ban on thermal coal exports. Thermal coal is one of the dirtiest fossil fuel contributors to climate change. Coal power generation is the largest single source of global greenhouse gas emissions and one of the first fossil fuels whose use must be phased out.

Ending coal power will also improve the health of millions around the world. Air pollution generated by coal kills more than 800,000 people each year. The extractive origins of thermal coal can also have devastating impacts on lands, waters and local communities, including impacts on Indigenous nations and their inherent rights, including fishing, hunting and gathering.

Read or download the letter HERE.

Representatives from CRED-NB and collaborators across Canada filed a complaint to the federal Competition Bureau under Section 9 of the Competition Act, asking the Bureau to stop the Canadian Nuclear Association (CNA) and its members from falsely promoting nuclear energy as “clean” and “non-emitting”.

The complaint demonstrates that claims by the Canadian Nuclear Association and its members are false and misleading because of nuclear energy’s constant emission of large quantities of Group 1 carcinogenic liquids and gases, and its production of toxic radioactive byproducts and wastes which long outlive fuel production and energy generation, burdening current and future generations with safety and health risks.

Read the full complaint (46 pages) here:
https://www.ccnr.org/Competition_Bureau_submission_Oct_15_2024.pdf

The videos of the two webinars last week are now available:

1) More Nuclear in Canada’s Energy Future?
Panel: M.V. Ramana (UBC), Susan O’Donnell & Emma Fackenthall (STU), Laura Tanguay (York U), Mark Winfield (York U), chair Janice Harvey (STU)

2) Nuclear is Not the Solution:The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change
Discussion of the new book by M.V. Ramana (UBC) with student research assistants from St. Thomas University Kate Haché, Erin Hurley and Emma Fackenthall

October 1 is national Seniors Day and this year it’s a day of Seniors for Climate Action. Organizers are inviting everyone to meet at the provincial legislature in Fredericton at 11 AM till noon. Pledge support for future generations, learn about how climate change impacts seniors and discuss how to create positive change.

The election is October 21, and candidates are making the rounds now. Here’s a good question to ask when they knock on your door:

If elected, will you support a public enquiry on the continued operation of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Station to generate electricity in New Brunswick?

Background:

The Point Lepreau Nuclear Station has frequent and long periods of many months of down time for repairs and maintenance even after the expensive refurbishment which lasted from 2008 to November 2012.

Lepreau is the largest contributor to NB Power’s 5 billion dollar debt (Lepreau’s share is about 4 billion dollars) and the main reason the utility loses money almost every year. To cover these costs, NB Power is planning to increase our electricity rates by 20% in the next 2 years.

The people of New Brunswick must be given an opportunity to decide how our electricity will be generated. This election, let’s talk to potential candidates about holding a public inquiry to decide if New Brunswick should take the big leap forward with renewable energy or stick with nuclear generated electricity and suffer continued huge costs, many problems, unreliability and more radioactive nuclear waste.

It’s election time again! The Conservation Council of New Brunswick (CCNB) has published 10 questions to ask the candidates who come knocking at your door. Pick your favourite questions and read the background info to prepare yourself. If no candidates come by, check out their websites and you can also write or call them directly. Read CCNB’s election questions HERE.

The CEDAR project at St. Thomas University – a CRED-NB champion group – is hosting two webinars about nuclear power and the energy transition.

At 8 PM Atlantic / 7 PM Eastern: More Nuclear in Canada’s Energy Future? will feature profs and students from three universities.

At noon Atlantic / 11 AM Eastern, Professor M.V. Ramana, University of British Columbia will discuss his new book Nuclear is Not the Solution: The Folly of Atomic Power in the Age of Climate Change with three student research assistants at St. Thomas University.

October 10 – Save the date! More info and registration links HERE.

The Point Lepreau nuclear plant has been out of service for more than five months. NB Power says the main generator will be fixed by mid-November but the extent of the damage suggests the outage will continue long past that date.

After mid-November, as electric baseboard heaters are turned up, NB Power will need to generate even more power from the expensive and polluting fossil fuel-fired power plants on the grid. Meanwhile, the utility continues to pay the huge carrying costs of Point Lepreau even while it’s producing nothing.

We need a prudent plan to get out of this mess. Modern renewable energy and storage technology can help us do that.

Read the rest of this article by CRED-NB core member Tom McLean HERE, published in the NB Media Co-op on September 12, 2024.

The World Information Service on Energy (WISE) in the Netherlands invited CRED-NB core member Susan O’Donnell and Northwatch coordinator Brennain Lloyd to write an article for the Nuclear Monitor, a publication of WISE and the The Nuclear Information & Resource Service (NIRS) in the U.S.

The article, “Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs) in Canada” is an overview of the difference between CANDU and SMR reactors, how SMRs complicate radioactive waste management, who and what is behind the SMR push in Canada, and the future of SMRs in Canada. You can read the article HERE.