Ontario to build reactors:
Premier ready to unveil plan, sources say - New plants would ease province's electricity crunch.
ROBERT BENZIE - June 12th, 2006.

The provincial government will announce tomorrow that Ontario is embracing more nuclear power plants, sources told the Toronto Star.

Premier Dalton McGuinty has privately spoken of his government's plans to confidants for days, insiders say.

In an off-the-record speech on Saturday night in Ottawa to the secretive Bilderberg group, McGuinty discussed the pros and cons of more nuclear plants.

While he did not divulge the government's plans to that audience of 160 business and political leaders, the premier privately admitted the public will officially learn of the plans tomorrow when his government announces its long-awaited response to the Ontario Power Authority's report on the province's energy supply mix.

Last December, the OPA, an arm's length agency, recommended in its 1,100-page report that Ontario spend up to $40 billion over the next 20 years to produce 12,400 megawatts of electricity from new or refurbished nuclear plants.

The authority said nuclear power would have to be 50 per cent of the province's energy mix through 2025.

"The government will soon announce our response to the Ontario Power Authority report," an aide to the premier said last night. "The premier repeated on Saturday what he has always said publicly, that we cannot take new nuclear off the table as we prepare Ontario's long-term energy plan."

Despite claims from his office that his speech was no different from one he delivered in Niagara Falls a year ago, insiders told the Star he was unequivocal in private conversations about his support for the controversial electricity source.

Ontario is already home to many nuclear facilities. There are six nuclear units at Tiverton's Bruce plant, plus two more being refurbished; four at Darlington in Bowmanville; six at Pickering, plus two that have been mothballed, and one decommissioned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. reactor at Deep River.

To meet the OPA recommendations, Ontario would need about a dozen more reactors, which would take years to build.

Ever since the OPA report was made public Dec. 9, opponents of nuclear power have been attacking McGuinty for leaning toward that option.

The Sierra Club has called the nuclear option "insanity" and Greenpeace called it a leap backward at a time when alternative sources should be sought.

McGuinty's staff deliberately omitted any mention of his speech Saturday to the Bilderberg session — held at the Brookstreet Hotel in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata — from his public itinerary.

The group, named for the Dutch hotel the organization first met at in 1954, holds its sessions behind closed doors amid tight security.

In the past, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and former prime ministers Paul Martin and Jean Chrétien have addressed the organization.

Because participants in Bilderberg sessions are sworn to secrecy under threat of ex-communication from the group, politicians tend to lower their guard and speak candidly.

Insiders say McGuinty gave a "marvellous" Ontario-boosting speech interspersed with revelations about the province's need to move forward with more nuclear plants.

"He gave a stump speech on how great Ontario is and then (privately later) he said we're going to announce this week we're building new nukes," a source said.

Among those reportedly attending the Ottawa session were Ahmad Chalabi, former deputy prime minister of Iraq and a key proponent of the U.S.-led invasion of that country; Globe and Mail publisher Phillip Crawley; Coca-Cola chairman George A. David; Power Corp. CEO Paul Desmarais; Richard Holbrooke and Vernon Jordan, long-time top advisers to former U.S. president Bill Clinton; Henry Kissinger, former U.S. secretary of state; former New Brunswick premier Frank McKenna; Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands; New York Governor George Pataki; Iraq war architect Richard Perle; Heather Reisman, chair and CEO of Indigo Books and Music; Torstar president and CEO J. Robert S. Prichard and tycoon David Rockefeller, among many others.

It was the kind of power-broker audience the premier, who sat with Pataki, Reisman and Queen Beatrix, would want to reach when delivering a message about investing in Ontario — and massive investment will be required to pay for $40 billion in nuclear plants.

His address came one day after Energy Minister Dwight Duncan confirmed that the Liberal government was being forced to break its 2003 election promise to close all of Ontario's coal-fired generating plants by 2007. That promise was later amended to 2009.

On Friday, Duncan said that even the 2009 date could not be achieved.

As for the nuclear option, Jack Gibbons, executive director of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, denounced the OPA's call for more nuclear power as "1950s-style solution to meet our electricity needs in the 21st century."

NDP Leader Howard Hampton, author of a book on Ontario's electricity history, has railed against nuclear power because of environmental concerns and cost overruns.

But Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory has said Ontario needs a diverse energy supply to keep its manufacturing-reliant economy stable.

"Accept nukes," McGuinty says.
Argues Ontario will go dark without some new reactors - Energy minister is to announce `specific' details today.
ROBERT BENZIE AND ROB FERGUSON - June 13th, 2006.

Premier Dalton McGuinty says Ontarians have no choice but to accept the new nuclear power reactors his government will announce this morning.

On the eve of the province's long-expected announcement outlining Ontario's future power supply mix, McGuinty said yesterday it is a matter of keeping the lights on.

"Fifty per cent of our generating capacity at present comes from nuclear and we will not duck this issue. Governments have done that in the past, I refuse to do that," the premier told reporters after an event at the University of Toronto's Hart House.

His comments came after the Toronto Star first disclosed confirmation of the new reactors in yesterday's editions.

The premier said the government's response to last December's 1,100-page report by the arm's-length Ontario Power Authority on the supply mix would not pull punches.

The OPA recommended Ontario refurbish or build new nuclear plants over the next 20 years to generate 12,400 megawatts of electricity.

Such an undertaking could cost $35 billion to $40 billion and mean a dozen new or rebuilt reactors.

"We're going to put in place a plan that will be aggressive. It will carry us through to 2025. It'll be revised every three years in keeping with the process," said McGuinty.

"But we'll be aggressive with respect to renewables, with respect to conservation, and with respect to new generation. I've said before, when we're talking about new generation there are no quick fixes here," he said, acknowledging he could pay a political price for his decision in next year's provincial election.

"There are all kinds of great political reasons for running away from this. But we will not do that."

Canadian Press reported yesterday that six new sites will be considered for reactors with the possibility of at least one new plant with twin reactors.

NDP Leader Howard Hampton charged that the "$40-billion nuclear mega-scheme is another Liberal letdown."

While Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory acknowledged a need for more nuclear facilities in Ontario, he said McGuinty has dithered on the issue "in an appalling manner."

Energy Minister Dwight Duncan said he will be "very specific" today at Queen's Park when he outlines Ontario's nuclear plans, alternative generation ideas and conservation initiatives. Duncan declined to say whether Ontario would favour federal government-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which builds the CANDU reactors already in use here, over foreign-owned firms.

Nor would the minister say whether the province's own Ontario Power Generation, which runs reactors in Darlington and Pickering, or British-owned Bruce Power, operator of the nuclear plant in Tiverton, would get the nod over other companies not yet here.

The government can expect heavy opposition, warned Shawn-Patrick Stensil of Greenpeace.

"It might be trench warfare in the end, but we're prepared to do that," he told a news conference held by environmental groups.

The groups said the government is making a huge mistake with a plan relying heavily on nuclear power and other major generating plants instead of dramatically boosting efforts on conservation and renewable energy.

They are "the only way to keep the lights on without frying the planet," said Keith Stewart, a climate change adviser with the World Wildlife Federation.

Stewart noted he's having a solar hot water heating system installed at his home for $5,700 — the kind of upfront cost he says the province should subsidize.

Environmentalists say McGuinty is trying to fool people with claims more nuclear energy is the only option because it will take at least 10 years of public hearings, environmental assessments, other approvals and construction before any new plant is up and running.

It will cost Ontarians $46 billion to whip the province's troubled electricity system into shape to keep lights, air conditioners and factories running for the next 20 years.

The plan unveiled by Energy Minister Dwight Duncan today includes refurbishing existing nuclear plants, building new reactors on those sites and doubling the amount of renewable power — such as hydroelectric and wind — now being used.

Power savings through conservation are also forecast to double.

The nuclear option, however, will end up supplying roughly the same amount of power as it does today — half the province's needs — as old units go out of service. That percentage is expected to decline to about 40 per cent by 2025, according to the new plan.

“It is a balanced approach,” Duncan said.

Environmental groups warned yesterday they are prepared for “trench warfare” to fight additional nuclear generation.

The government said it's not sure how many new nuclear reactors will be needed.

That depends on how many old ones can be refurbished, but critics noted the former Ontario Hydro botched refurbishments of older reactors in the 1990s, resulting in huge cost overruns.

To that end, the government will do a feasibility study on refurbishments and begin environmental assessments on new plants.

“While some units may be refurbished, it may not be feasible to do so in all cases,” Duncan said.

At a minimum, one or two nuclear units costing $2-$3 billion will be needed, one energy ministry official said.

Duncan did not set a new deadline for closing heavily polluting coal-fired power plants. The government has broken two promised dates already.