[ RadSafe ] addendum to Sandy Perle's posting

[Michael LaFontaine, P.Phys.]

Darlington to get two new nuclear reactors
Posted: June 16, 2008, 10:39 AM by Rob Roberts

By Becky Rynor, Canwest News Service

Two new nuclear reactors will be built at the site of the Darlington 
A power station near Toronto, Ontario Energy Minister Gerry Phillips 
announced today.

"The decision to go with Darlington was made after a review of all 
the relevant issues," said Alan Findlay, a spokesman for the 
province's Ministry of Energy. Findlay said the decision to build the 
reactors came down to a choice between Darlington, 75 kilometres east 
of Toronto, and the Bruce nuclear plant in Tiverton, 223 kilometres 
northwest of Toronto. With the new plants going to Darlington, the 
Bruce facility will continue to provide approximately 6,300 megawatts 
of electricity, either through a refurbishing and upgrade of the 
Bruce B plant or by putting in new units at what would be called 
Bruce C, Findlay added.

"Maintaining and renewing Ontario's nuclear energy fleet is an 
important part of the Ontario government's climate change plan and 
its 20-year plan to bring clean, affordable and reliable electricity 
to Ontarians," the minister said in an news release.
The notion of a nuclear reactor as a green energy source has caused 
deep divisions among activists. Several prominent environmentalists, 
including Greenpeace founder Patrick Moore, are vocal proponents. 
Others dismiss nuclear's environmental benefits as propaganda put 
forward by the industry.

"You'd have to have a pretty high price on carbon for that benefit to 
start to show because of the large upfront costs involved in building 
a new nuclear plant," said Shawn-Patrick Stensil, a Greenpeace 
campaigner.  Monday's announcement outlines the latest steps in the 
process to select and build a two-unit nuclear power plant and 
maintain Ontario's nuclear generation capacity at 14,000 megawatts. 
In the same announcement, AREVA NP, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, 
and Westinghouse Electric Company were also identified as the three 
organizations invited to bid on the nuclear power plant construction 
project. Their bids will be evaluated on the basis of three key 
considerations: lifetime cost of the power; ability to meet Ontario's 
timetable to bring the new power supply online in 2018, and the level 
of investment they will bring to Ontario.

The successful vendor will be chosen by the end of this year. 
Construction of the new plant is expected to create about 3,500 
direct construction and engineering jobs between 2012 and 2018. The 
new plant will be operated by Ontario Power Generation.

_________________


The province of Ontario, Canada currently has 20 nuclear power 
generating stations.