Nuclear Phaseout

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 »

The Ontario Green Energy Act was passed only three years ago. In that short period, thousands of jobs have been created and hundreds of megawatts of capacity built. In that time, a nuclear power plant would have been nothing more than a big hole in the ground with seven more years of construction before it.

I fail to understand why subsidies for nuclear power topping $60-billion and rising are good and paying a premium for green power is bad.

Sierra Club Canada

After vowing to take on radical environmentalists determined to stop the Northern Gateway pipeline, the Harper government has released a new anti-terrorism strategy that targets eco-extremists as threats.

With his announcement this week, Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has increased the concern among environmentalists that Ottawa regards them as implacable adversaries to be monitored and battled, rather than well-meaning advocates to be consulted.

“This is just one more step in their attempt to marginalize the environmental movement and to quiet its voice,” John Bennett, executive director of Sierra Club Canada, said Friday. “It’s an indirect suggestion that somehow environmentalism is attached to terrorism and that’s just wrong.”... Read more »

Bruce Power’s licence to transport steam generators containing radiation for recycling expired Friday.

The nuclear power generator has not reapplied and said in a news release Friday it will do so “when it’s appropriate.”

It also said there is “no urgency” to ship the generators.

Company spokesman John Peevers declined to answer questions about it.

“Bruce Power continues to believe recycling offers the best environmental solution for reducing our footprint and is something we remain entirely committed to,” the company said in a statement.

If Bruce Power applies to renew its licence, the Canadian Nuclear Safety and Control Act requires the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to hold another public hearing, the Council of Canadians said in a news release this week.... Read more »

TOKYO—Former Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan returns to the world stage this week, part of a campaign to reinvent himself as a global antinuclear activist nearly a year after he oversaw his government's widely criticized handling of the Fukushima Daiichi accident.

"I would like to tell the world that we should aim for a society that can function without nuclear energy," he said in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal, previewing his speech scheduled for Thursday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.... Read more »