Protect Lake Ontario: Stop Darlington
- 8-28-2012
- Categorized in: NUCLEAR POWER
Ontario
Power Generation’s (OPG) Darlington nuclear station has been killing
millions of fish every year, in contravention of federal environmental
law. You can help stop this.
At public hearings in 2011, a representative from the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) admitted that OPG had been operating Darlington in contravention of the Fisheries Act for years.
So while aware that Darlington was flouting the law, DFO did nothing to
enforce the Fisheries Act, which is intended to protect fish and fish
habitat.
This has caused a great deal of harm to Lake Ontario.
Nuclear stations need massive amounts of water to prevent the reactor core from overheating and causing an accident.
This
is why people visualize large cooling towers emitting steam when they
think of nuclear stations. Cooling towers are installed to protect
aquatic ecosystems. They allow cooling water to be recycled instead of
continually sucked from a lake.
The
Darlington nuclear station is a dirty exception. Darlington takes its
cooling water directly from Lake Ontario and in so doing sucks up and
kills millions of fish annually. The station’s hot, chemical laden
waste water is then dumped back into Lake Ontario.
OPG designed Darlington without cooling towers in the 1970s to save money. OPG chose profits over environmental protection.
This wouldn’t be accepted today by our southern neighbours. And it shouldn’t be OK in Canada.
In
the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the
State of California are telling power plant operators to phase-out
once-through cooling systems (the system used at Darlington).
And reactors on the American side of Lake Ontario, such as Nine Mile Point, already have cooling towers.
Here in Canada, however, the federal government seems more interested in protecting OPG’s profits than the environment.
OPG has asked the federal government for permission to keep running the four Darlington reactors until 2055.
OPG
says it will cost anywhere between $8 and 14 billion dollars to keep
Darlington running. This is almost commensurate with the original cost
of building Darlington. (Darlington ended up costing $14 billion in
1992. That’s about $20 billion today, when you take inflation into
account.)
The
high cost says it all. OPG is effectively rebuilding Darlington. You
would think then that the federal government would require OPG to
upgrade the station to meet modern environmental standards, especially
since Darlington has been operating in contravention of the Fisheries
Act for years. But no.
I
reviewed the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and DFO’s
environmental review of the proposed life-extension of Darlington last
month. It doesn’t even consider options for eliminating or limiting
Darlington’s impact on Lake Ontario.
Given there’s cost-effective options to protect Lake Ontario, this is appalling.
This is where you can help.
This Fall the federal government will ask whether you think Darlington should be allowed to operate until 2055.
Please
tell the CNSC and DFO that their mission is not to protect OPG’s
profits, but to protect people and the environment. Their job is to
protect Lake Ontario not OPG.
Sign-up here and we’ll make sure you get the information and tools you need.
And for more information on Darlington’s impact on Lake Ontario, please read this backgrounder.
Talk to you soon.
Shawn-Patrick Stensil, Greenpeace (original......
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