Nuclear-Free Canada

By Jeff Alan

The “hey federal government, we have environmental concerns” portion of the Darlington nuclear plant discussion is over. The project has been, of course, deemed perfectly safe as long as the considerations are considered. If you would like to read all 67 Joint Review Panel recommendations and the feds' responses, put on your reading glasses and mosey on over to this website:

http://www.ceaa-acee.gc.ca/050/document-eng.cfm?document=55542

Wonder if they put in any suggestions for stronger protection against confused workers filling the wrong tank again...¹... Read more »

Thousands of Japanese marched to celebrate the switching off of the last of their nation's 50 nuclear reactors Saturday, waving banners shaped as giant fish that have become a potent anti-nuclear symbol.

Japan was without electricity from nuclear power for the first time in four decades when the reactor at Tomari nuclear plant on the northern island of Hokkaido went offline for mandatory routine maintenance.

After last year's March 11 quake and tsunami set off meltdowns at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, no reactor halted for checkups has been restarted amid public worries about the safety of nuclear technology.

"Today is a historic day," Masashi Ishikawa shouted to a crowd gathered at a Tokyo park, some holding traditional "koinobori" carp-shaped banners for Children's Day that have become a symbol of the anti-nuclear movement.... Read more »

A group of insurance companies being sued by NB Power for failing to pay for problems at the refurbishment of its Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station say the utility is far more responsible for delays at the project than it has been admitting.

The insurance companies, all operating under the banner of Lloyd's Underwriting, say in court documents that NB Power officials ignored expert advice to halt the installation of the reactor's calandria tubes after several failed leak tests early in 2010.

Instead, all 380 of the ill-fitting tubes were installed and later had to be removed, a mistake that added a year and hundreds of millions of dollars to the problem plagued project.

"NB Power recklessly and willfully agreed with AECL to continue to install new calandria tubes in the face of known leak test failures," the companies say in defence of a decision not to pay an insurance claim made by the utility.... Read more »