[ RadSafe ] opg

[sfisher373 at aol.com]

Bruce has 6,300 MWe, Darlington is 3200 MWe and Pickering is 4000 MWe.  So only 13,500 is nuclear.  Rest is hydroelectric. But Pickering is shutting down for good in 2022. 


Dear Radsafe,

Yes, homeowners with solar and/or wind generators can sell power back to the power grid, at least in the province of Ontario (population of 13.8 M) where a large premium is paid to such generators.  The idea was to stimulate the expansion of such renewable resources, but the costs have been high.

Fortunately, with a present total of over 35,000 MWe of  total installed capacity (including the Bruce Nuclear station, the largest nuclear power generating site in the world), most of Ontario's power is GHG emission-free nuclear - over 60% in the last few years - with only about 6% and <1% from wind and solar, respectively, in 2015. [See http://www.ieso.ca/Pages/Power-Data/Supply.aspx ]  Wind and solar power will increase, but they can?t provide enough 24-hour power.  Due to nuclear, Ontario  has been able to close out 100% of its GHG-emitting coal-fired plants.
 
Many of the public apparently still want to phase out nuclear, but that's not going to happen, at least for a while yet.    Some of the present nuclear stations are slated to undergo refurbishment which will extend their lifetimes , e.g. see http://www.opg.com/news-and-media/news-releases/Documents/20160111_DarlingtonRefurb.pdf

Leo Lowe