Challenges and opportunities

Canada’s abundance of uranium resources, our drive to build self-sufficient electricity supply and our country’s history of nuclear power innovation have given nuclear power an important part in our electricity generation mix, especially in Ontario. Today there are 17 operating power reactors in Canada, all but two in Ontario. Looking to the future, the industry’s growth and environmental performance will be shaped by different challenges and opportunities:

• management of nuclear wastes
  Because used nuclear fuel is initially highly radioactive, storage of this solid waste remains the industry’s greatest environmental problem and financial liability. Although radioactivity diminishes with time, public concern with safety and security must be addressed. In 2002, the Canadian government legislated the establishment of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization to develop long-term solutions to the nuclear industry’s growing nuclear waste inventory. The NWMO is undertaking public consultation on this issue and plans to make a formal recommendation, no later than November 2005, on how the industry should handle the waste fuel issue.
  
  
• economic costs
  Most nuclear power plants are economical to operate. Results from a cost comparison study undertaken in 2004 by the Canadian Energy Research Institute show that the costs of nuclear-generated power vary considerably, depending on which technology is used. The study suggests that nuclear power is competitive with fossil fuels, if ACR-700 reactors are used, if fossil fuel prices continue to rise, or if coal-fired generation is assessed with penalties in the form of carbon dioxide emission charges.
  
  In Ontario, recent public controversy and media reports have focused on the increasing costs of refurbishing Canada’s older reactors. At the Pickering nuclear plant, for example, Ontario Power Generation encountered significant delays and cost overruns to refurbish Unit 4. However, the December 2003 Report of the Pickering “A” Review Panel chaired by the Honourable Jake Epp attributed the cost over-runs of refurbishing Pickering A, Unit 4, to highly deficient project management, not a problem with Canadian technology. The refurbishment of Bruce A, Units 3 and 4 has shown that CANDU reactors can be refurbished at reasonable cost and within a reasonable timeframe.
  
  
• climate change benefits
  According to the Canadian Nuclear Association, Canada’s existing nuclear power plants avoid the emission of about 85 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year that would otherwise be produced by fossil fuel-fired plants (coal, oil and natural gas). However, nuclear power’s value as a carbon-free electricity supply technology is currently not included in the Kyoto Protocol and has generally not been recognized in government policies in Canada or elsewhere.
  
  
• public perceptions of nuclear power
  After the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and the 1986 accident at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union, public concern in the U.S. and worldwide about reactor safety increased significantly. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centre also heightened public concern about the security of nuclear facilities from terrorist attacks. The public and many environmental groups continue to have negative perceptions about the industry’s potential safety and environmental impacts. Although many nuclear plants continue to operate in the U.S., no new plants were ordered in that country during a 25 year period following the Three Mile Island accident. Whether new nuclear power plants are built in the U.S., Canada and other countries will depend on the industry’s ability to handle the long-term management of nuclear fuel waste.