Canada
Canada is the world's largest exporter of uranium and operates nuclear reactors including on the Great Lakes. Attempts are underway to introduce nuclear power to the province of Alberta and to use nuclear reactors to power oil extraction from the tar sands.
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The Canadian province of Saskatchewan, a global leader in uranium mining, has ruled out nuclear reactors as an energy source - there are currently none in the province. Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd said Thursday: "I think we met with the same kind of general conclusion that was met with in Ontario that this would be a very expensive source."
Denise Wilson of Grand Prairie, writing in the December 21, 2009 edition of the Edmonton Journal, reveals how undemocratic the public process has been in the province in determining whether or not to go forward with nuclear reactor construction. So far, Alberta remains nuclear-free.
Read the excellent December 13, 2009 editorial in the Calgary Herald spelling out the reasons to reject nuclear power in Alberta. A decision is expected in January.
A moratorium on the exploration and mining of uranium in Nova Scotia has been turned into law by the provincial government. The ban has been in place since 1981, but was only in the form of a cabinet policy statement. The formerly temporary moratorium cannot now be relaxed or altered without repealing the law by bringing it back for reconsideration by the Nova Scotia Legislative Assembly. The law marks a victory for activists who have fought for years to ban uranium mining in the province in the face of heavy lobbying from the uranium mining industry.
A May 21, 2009 report by a Canadian government agency task force has recommended stricter regulation on the release of tritium from nuclear reactors just as a slew of tritium leaks have been reported at U.S. reactors. Tritium, (a radioactive form of hydrogen), is clinically proven to cause cancer, birth defects and genetic damage with no known safe threshold dose. The Canadian report recommends the "safe" level be dramatically reduced to 500 picoCuries per liter. Current U.S. standards vary. Under Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards, the "safe" dose is one million picoCuries per liter, compared to the Environmental Protection Agency's 20,000 and the State of California's 400.
December 21, 2009