Tag: Other Org Action

Clean Energy or Weapons? What the ‘Breakthrough’ in Nuclear Fusion Really Means

In contrast to the hype about nuclear fusion and its promise of limitless energy, experts have been analyzing the recent ‘breakthrough’ announcement. For example, UBC professor M.V. Ramana wrote this piece in Z Network, HERE. For another perspective, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists interviews Bob Rosner, a physicist at the University of Chicago and a former director of the Argonne National Laboratory, article HERE.

CRED supports call for public hearings into future of Point Lepreau nuclear plant

On Friday, Dec. 15, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick did the right thing: they called for public hearings into the future of the Point Lepreau nuclear plant. Read the media release HERE.

Following the latest outage at the Point Lepreau nuclear plant on the Bay of Fundy on the morning of Wednesday, Dec. 14, NB Power issued several vague news releases. Business as usual, another day, another unscheduled shutdown.

NB Power puts its news releases HERE, including any updates on the Lepreau situation that they deign to share with us, the public. When will they switch it on again? Will they tell us what happened or keep us guessing?

CRED-NB fully supports the CCNB call. We look forward to an open and transparent hearing process where all the facts are laid bare. What is this intermittent power reactor costing us and how much is it going to cost us to keep it limping along until its licence runs out in 2032? The licence will be subject to a CRTC review in 2027 but that’s too far away. Let’s get the facts out in 2023.

Conservation Council of New Brunswick adopts resolution opposing nuclear power as future energy source

At its AGM at the end of November, the province’s flagship environmental organization, the Conservation Council of New Brunswick, adopted a motion opposing nuclear power as a future energy source and promoting instead investment in real climate solutions. The resolution was proposed by Dr. Janice Harvey, a CRED-NB core member. Read or download the CCNB resolution, HERE.

No legitimate reason to support the controversial nuclear technology planned for New Brunswick

NB Power plans to develop new nuclear reactors at Point Lepreau that will use a controversial technology with implications for global security. Provincial and federal government support for this technology–called reprocessing–should end. Separation of plutonium massively increases risk of nuclear weapons proliferation. Read the commentary by Susan O’Donnell (CRED-NB core member) and University of British Columbia professor M.V. Ramana, published in the NB Media Co-op HERE.

Energy technologies considered for New Brunswick are not clean, timely or affordable

Wind, solar and existing hydro are cheaper, cleaner, and ready to go, reducing our carbon emissions in a few years, not in a decade or two. Costly unproven projects like SMRs and hydrogen commit our money to rising costs and delayed payback. CRED core members Sam Arnold (NBASGA) and Ann McAllister (Council of Canadians Saint John Chapter) wrote a critique of New Brunswick’s current energy development plans and lay out an alternative. Commentary published by the NB Media Co-op, HERE.

Pull the plug on nuclear subsidies

Excellent article by Ole Hendrickson in the latest issue of Rabble:
https://rabble.ca/columnists/pull-the-plug-on-nuclear-subsidies/

Some quotes from the article:

New Brunswick Power, despite being awash in debt, is also promoting two “next generation” SMRs at its Point Lepreau reactor site. Both the provincial and federal governments have provided multi-million-dollar grants, ignoring warnings that these SMR designs, which would be fuelled by plutonium, have been riddled with technical problems in the past and would create serious risks of nuclear weapons proliferation.

The linchpin of nuclear corporate welfare in Canada is Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL). Created in 1952 as a federal crown corporation, AECL now has fewer than 50 employees, but receives over a billion dollars of federal money each year.

Why a federal impact assessment for the New Brunswick SMRs?

This morning on CBC radio, Canadian Environmental Law Association counsel Kerrie Blaise explained why the federal government needs to designate the ARC-100 SMR (small modular nuclear reactor) for a federal impact assessment.

Kerrie explained that only the wide scope of a federal IA will give the public an opportunity to have many of their questions answered about this first-of-its-kind SMR, including the feasibility of the project as well as its potential environmental impact.

Listen to Kerrie’s interview on CBC Fredericton, HERE.

Listen to her interview on CBC Saint John, HERE.

HERE is the latest update on CRED-NB’s request to federal minister of Environment and Climate Change to designate the project for an impact assessment, including links to the request in July and the response from the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada in October.

Decolonial Solidarity Moncton- Kill the Drill: Rally Nov. 5

Rallies will be held across Canada on Saturday Nov. 5 in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people and the defense of their land from a proposed gas pipeline. The Coastal Gaslink (CGL) pipeline would transport fracked natural gas across Wet’suwet’en territory to a proposed export terminal in Kitimat, BC.

The Climate Justice Coalition in the Moncton region is joining with other environmental and Indigenous allies and groups such as Decolonial Solidarity, LeadNow, Extinction Rebellion, the Suzuki Foundation, 350.org, and others on November 5th to oppose development of the Coastal Gas Link pipeline. The rally will be focussed on the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC),  the largest funder of the Coastal Gas Link pipeline. Details for the action in Moncton are below:

Decolonial Solidarity Moncton – We Are All One – Kill the Drill
Start: Saturday, November 05, 2022 11:15 AM
Royal Bank of Canada
719 Mountain Rd Moncton, NB E1C 8H9