Finally, some true leadership at Queen's Park. Premier McGuinty has given the go ahead to start planning and building a new generation of nuclear power plants. Ontario is facing an energy crisis and we had to bite the nuclear bullet or risk future power blackouts. With a growing population, wind, solar and other expensive green solutions cannot deliver enough reliable power to the industrial heartland of the country.
It was a tough but pragmatic and responsible decision.
The energy plan calls for the possible refurbishing of some
of the current nuclear reactors - not a good idea as it's old
technology and the last attempt went psychotically over budget
- and the construction of new ones at Darlington, Pickering or
the Bruce the locations of Ontario's nuclear fleet. The
coal-fired power plants will stay in production until its
deperately needed power can be safely replaced.
My main problem with the premier's nuclear policy is that
Northern Ontario is left out.
Ontario should establish one more site for nuclear
generating stations and that site should be located in Northern
Ontario. This would bring enormous economic spin-offs to the
region. Last summer, Laurentian University Professor Dr. David
Robinsion wrote an interesting opinion piece about atomic power
and the mining industry. He felt that a nuclear power plant
should be built in Sudbury. At first I thought the idea was a
little far fetched and "typically academic."
However, the more I thought about this issue, the more it
sounded good, although the location would be better suited
somewhere on the north shore near a large body of water.
Perhaps Blind River, a community that already has a uranium
refinery, might be the ideal site. Small communities tend to be
more receptive to nuclear facilities due to their positive
economic impact. The central location between Sudbury and Sault
Ste. Marie, the two most populated urban centres in
northeastern Ontario, would be a good strategic location. In
addition, in a world desperate for metals, Northeastern
Ontario's mineral potential is expanding and mining is a very
energy intensive industry.
The other reason Northern Ontario should not be overlooked for new reactors is nuclear waste disposal. I know this is a very contentious issue and no one wants their region to be considered the final resting spot for radioactive fuel.
But logically, we are not going to build containment
facilities in congested southern Ontario. It just doesn't make
sense. Ontario is going to have to take care of its own nuclear
waste material. The Pre- Cambrian Shield is one of the most
stable geological formations on earth.
An isolated spot with good highway access somewhere in
northeastern Ontario is the most safe and secure spot.
Northwestern Ontario is too far away and the logistics of
trucking radioactive material all that distance creates many
security problems.
Nuclear energy supplies about half of Ontario's power needs. For the next few decades not much is going to change. 
So let's be pragmatic. It's not a matter of if, but when, the final decision is made about a Northern Ontario location.
So let's be pro-active and start negotiating or lobbying for
some very significant economic benefits for the region. The
first major benefit would be a nuclear reator somewhere on the
north shore. Other potential benefits would be a twinned
highway from Sault Ste. Marie through to Sudbury and south to
Toronto. We certainly can't allow nuclear waste material to be
transported on substandard two-lane highways!
Next, Sudbury's Laurentian University would become Canada's
primary research facility for the safe and economic disposal of
nuclear waste. Tens if not a hundred million dollars should be
set aside for this endevor. And further economic bribes could
include 5,000 Ontario civil service jobs relocated from Toronto
and spread among the major population centres of northeastern
Ontario. This would certainly help alleviate some of the
overpopulated and over-burdened infrastructure stresses faced
by our southern Ontario cousins. I am sure there are many other
economic benefits that the northeast could extract from Queen's
Park if we put our collective minds together.
Make no mistake, in the next decade Ontario must find a safe
and secure disposal site for the province's nuclear waste. By
population density and geological criteria, it will end up
somewhere in Northern Ontario. Let's start negotiating some
significant economic and social benefits now.
Stan Sudol is a Toronto-based communications consultant who writes extensively on mining issues.
