CANDU good for jobs, energy

Toronto Sun
April 16, 2009

Regarding Christina Blizzard's "Dalton's nuclear dilemma" (April 10): There is no reason for a Canadian inferiority complex when it comes to CANDU technology.

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.'s CANDU reactor is in the final round of Ontario's nuclear technology selection process because it successfully met all the government's criteria. The fact is, CANDU stands up very well to the competition on historical operating performance and nuclear technology fundamentals like design and cost.

CANDU plants are among the best performing nuclear facilities in the world year after year. A 2006 study ranked the CANDU reactor as 20% more efficient than plants in France and 28% more efficient than U.S. facilities. The mini-Maple reactor's operating issues stem from circumstances unique to that medical isotope facility and have no relation to the electricity generating reactors that have been providing safe, abundant, reliable and affordable electricity to Ontario for more than 40 years. Over 50% of Ontario's electricity comes from CANDU reactors.

In the last 10 years, CANDU has been a leader in the construction of new reactors, building more than any competitor in export markets and leading the industry in on-time, on-budget construction.

We agree with Blizzard that windmills and conservation won't be enough to keep the lights on in Ontario, and by choosing a foreign technology Canada will see a huge loss of domestic expertise, jobs and our world-class technology will be sentenced to die instead of participating in an unprecedented world-wide growth period in nuclear electricity generation.

COMPONENT SUPPLY CHAIN

Ontario is the centre of Canada's $5-billion nuclear industry, which includes the vast majority of 30,000 direct jobs that it creates. In addition, over 100 companies right here in Ontario form the component manufacturing supply chain for CANDU reactors, whereas the supply chains for the foreign competitors are centred in their home country. The Conference Board of Canada conservatively estimates a difference of 150,000 person years of employment for Ontario with a CANDU pick for Ontario's two new reactors.

The Canadian Energy Research Institute estimates that for every exported CANDU reactor Ontario's GDP increases by more than $1 billion and about 17,000 person years of employment are created.

By choosing a foreign technology, Ontario forgoes the creation of tens of thousands of new jobs and billions in economic benefits from reactor exports. We'll miss out on other exciting applications like using emission-free CANDU production to supply electricity and produce hydrogen for new zero emission vehicles. Part of our energy security will be lost.

Be assured, our "Made-in-Canada" CANDU is better for Ontario's future than the "off-shore" offerings.

Don MacKinnon
President , Power Workers' Union