Haldimand "Nuclear's Free Ride Needs to End"

Well I thought that I had read a great deal about the Nuclear Industry recently until I was sent an e-mail in regards to signing a petition. I knew that the Government was responsible if there was an incident, but I had no idea how much the taxpayer was paying for the cost overruns, the waste management and ultimately the decommissioning of a Nuclear facility even if it is privately owned!

It seems that it is a very lucrative business being in the Nuclear Circle!

When a Nuclear Plant is shut down an EA needs to be done, I knew that, but after reading this I wonder why? The cost is a 100% burden on the taxpayer! This really shocked me! I wonder just how much does it cost to decommission a Nuclear Plant?

I am more convinced now that a Nuclear Plant in Nanticoke is out of touch with reality. How can we afford this? It is time for us to demand our Government be fiscally responsible to the taxpayers!

Sign the petition for a Nuclear Cost Responsibility Act for Ontario

Every nuclear construction project in the past 25 years in Ontario has gone massively over budget. And we are all on the hook for these runaway costs, paying a nuclear debt surcharge on every kilowatt of electricity we use. Renewable and natural gas generating projects are strictly prohibited from passing on cost overruns to consumers or taxpayers. It’s time to level the playing field and end nuclear’s free ride.

Ontarios Green Future
Here is just a sample of what is on the site;

Nuclear's free ride

No renewable power project, even if it is run by a community co-op or a First Nation, is allowed to pass on capital cost overruns to ratepayers or taxpayers. Companies building natural gas-fired power plants have to play by the same rules.

But it is a different story for nuclear plant operators, who have routinely reached into our pockets to cover massive cost overruns, like the $10 billion in extra costs for the Darlington Nuclear Station or the $1.5 billion in overruns on repairs to the Pickering Station. And soon, we will be footing a big part of the bill for the mounting cost overruns on ongoing repairs to the Bruce Station.

But Ontario taxpayers are not only on the hook for nuclear capital cost overruns, we also give nuclear power operators subsidies that are not available to any other power producer:

Radioactive waste disposal costs. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization estimates these costs will be more than $20 billion for existing waste. Taxpayers will foot a major share of this bill, including 100% of any costs over $10 billion.

Nuclear Liability Costs: No private insurer will insure a nuclear plant against a major accident. Therefore, the government artificially limits the liability of nuclear plant operators to $75 million — a token sum that will be dwarfed by the real costs of even a modest accident.

Nuclear plant decommissioning: Ontario’s electricity consumers and taxpayers are responsible for 100% of the costs of taking apart and disposing of the nuclear reactors run by privately owned Bruce Power.

Just think what we could achieve if we put $50-$60 billion into energy efficiency programs, high-efficiency combined heat and power generation and clean renewable energy instead of into always late, always underperforming nuclear power projects..

http://www.ontariosgreenfuture.ca/nuclearsfreeride.php