No new reactor for Bruce

[jayman]

The proposed new reactors for the Bruce nuclear power plant, located at Nanticoke, Ontario, have been scrubbed

Power Engineering - Bruce nixes plans to build new nuclear reactors

They cite declining power consumption in Ontario. Perhaps the enormous cost overruns of similar ventures, such as Darlington,

CTV.ca | Ontario wants a cheaper nuke bid from AECL

happens to be the real reason a new reactor has been scrubbed. It's one thing if a project is 20% over budget, quite another if it's 3-4 times over budget

[hyo silver]

Nuclear power and fiscal restraint in the same sentence? Wow, the times really are a changin'.

[jayman]

That floored me too. I guess the days of nuclear reactor 3-4 X cost overruns are over

[FL_Prius_Driver]

With the Defacto closing of the Yucca Mountain storage facility, opening any new nuclear plant in the US means opening a local waste site right next to the reactor.

[jayman]

Yes, same as Canada. There had been research done at the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd Pinawa site, the Whiteshell Lab, to determine suitability for long-term storage. This research was cooperative with DOE

Manitoba Community Profiles - Community Profile:L.G.D. of Pinawa

RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION EXPERIMENTS AT A SCALE OF 1 m IN TUFF BLOCKS UNDER UNSATURATED AND SATURATED CONDITIONS

Information Bridge: DOE Scientific and Technical Information - - Document #828214

Although one can make the arguement that France also doesn't have a *true* long-term plan, they are light years ahead of anything we're doing here

[hyo silver]

France has nuclear-powered electric trains that are faster, city to city, than airplanes. I think 515 kmh (about 320 mph) is the latest speed record. TGVs make VIA and Amtrak rolling stock look like horse-drawn carriages.

[jayman]

Yes, the TGV style electric trains in France get their power from nuclear. What I find ironic is that folks assume a "socialist" country will automatically be anti-nuclear.

Yet France gets the vast majority of its power (76-89%, depending on who cites the sources) from nuclear reactors. Since the start of her nuclear power program, the French government had a firm and commanding hand involved in their nuclear power program

Sort of like how the Canadian nuclear power program started. A lot of folks don't realize that gasseous centrifuge diffusion of plutonium production was pioneered at McGill University. A lot of key nuclear developments occured in Canada

Canada's Role in the Atomic Bomb Programs of the US, UK, France & India

But there is an old saying: s*** or get off the pot. The French followed through on that, Canadians apparently lost interest. IMHO the CANDU system is the most efficient nuclear reactor design in the world, but nothing much was done with it

AECL Whiteshell Lab was poised to have some real breakthroughs in not only smaller scale (Town/small city) nuclear power, but in long term processing and storage of spent fuel. The CANDU reactor was designed - from the start - to "reburn" spent fuel with the much more widely available thorium.

Indeed, if you search around a bit and look into scientists involved at Whiteshell and Chalk River, they are globally respected in the field of nuclear power and reprocessing/waste management. The DOE in the United States, and respective nuclear power agencies in the UK, France, and Japan, highly respect Canadian nuclear scientists

Consider the recent "crisis" with nuclear medical isotopes

DOTmed.com - Medical Isotope Shortage Reaching Crisis Proportions

Reactor Shutdown Causing Medical Isotope Shortage - New York Times

When you consider that the Canadian government has a contractural obligation to supply upwards of 80% of global medical isotopes, it's mind boggling how long various Liberal and Conservative governments passed the buck on that ancient reactor at Chalk River

It will cost billions to build a new reactor, such as the canceled MAPLE

TheStar.com | Canada | Isotope crisis worse now: Ex-nuclear head

but the fines from failing to provide the US, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, and others with medical isotopes, will also be in the billions.

Why are Canadians such poor businessmen? They give away the kitchen sink in every bargain-basement decision, and cannot comprehend the long-term impact

[hyo silver]

I just don't get that. Canadians are quite capable of achieving brilliance, yet on the rare occasion we actually do, we just walk away. (The Avro Arrow comes to mind, but no point dwelling on that now.) It's a good thing we have more natural resources than we know what to do with, but the eternal disparity between potential and reality is frustrating. A sense of urgency, and an appreciation of how lucky we are, is sadly lacking.

[dr_d12]

Bruce Power has moved into the Alberta market and has plans to build a power plant near Peace River. They will make more money if they invest in reactors in Alberta because of electricity deregulation and the high demand for power in the oil sands.

[jayman]

Originally Posted by hyo silver

I just don't get that. Canadians are quite capable of achieving brilliance, yet on the rare occasion we actually do, we just walk away.

Don't forget the various acronym Crown Corporations (EDC, IC, CIDA, etc) investing tens of billions of taxpayer funds in foreign ventures. Eg copper mine in Chile, power dam in China, etc etc

Submission to the Export Development Act Review, Part 1 | Probe International

Of course, you already knew about this. Right? RIGHT?!

Originally Posted by dr_d12

Bruce Power has moved into the Alberta market and has plans to build a power plant near Peace River. They will make more money if they invest in reactors in Alberta because of electricity deregulation and the high demand for power in the oil sands.

They will make money if they just power the tar sands. The lessor of two evils is using CANDU nuclear power, instead of Mackenzie Delta natural gas, to run the tar sands