Comments and Directions…

Comments and Directions toward the LTEP2016/17

The LTEP2016/2017 should go in the direction of electrifying many of the energy requirements in Ontario’s economy that currently use carbon sources; e.g. the transportation, industry and residential sectors. Ontario electricity is generated at about 20 GW from 95% carbon-free sources, while the other sectors currently still use about 70 GW of carbon power. This 70 GW carbon energy requirement should be substituted with reliable, affordable, predictable carbon-free electric power from additional nuclear generation.

The additional carbon-free energy should come from compact load-following nuclear-waste-burning fast-neutron reactors.

Nuclear

1)         is carbon-free,

2)         is our second-cheapest source of energy and therefore affordable (hydroelectric is cheaper, but Ontario has exhausted most of our potential hydro sources; wind and solar are 2 and 7 times more expensive respectively and require fossil-fuel back-up),

3)         is reliable 24/7 compared to intermittent wind and solar. Moreover,

4)         fast-neutron reactors are load-following, being able to follow the variations in daily power demand.

5)         As a bonus, fast-neutron reactors (FNRs) can have their fuel replenished with highly radioactive used CANDU fuel waste to eliminate the long-term radioactivity of that material. The over 99% heavy atom component in used CANDU fuel can be completely consumed by recycling through FNRs. Thus, in addition to major amounts of carbon-free energy such an approach eliminates a major societal concern: the million-year radiotoxicity of currently stored used CANDU fuel.

6)         In addition, the fuel is available, already stored at reactor sites, with the result that the carbon footprint of nuclear power using FNRs is further reduced since no fuel mining is required.

7)FNRs have been tested under full power and proven to be safe, such that this type of reactor would have survived the events that led to the Fukushima and Three-Mile-Island accidents and even avoided the disaster of Chernobyl, unscathed.

8) FNRs come as modular units of reasonable size (200 to 600 MWe; e.g. GEH PRISM at 300 MWe), factory-built, and can be introduced piece-meal at a reasonable cost as required. This lowers the up-front financial commitment, lowers the time to profitable operation, and also builds up Canadian expertise.

Finances

9)An FNR/recycling approach by the Ministry of Energy would not require new monies to be raised

via taxes or levies. The FNR/recycling approach of consuming highly radioactive used CANDU fuel waste means that a long-term deep geological repository (DGR) for disposal of such used CANDU fuel waste is no longer required, making the $20 – 40 billion slated for such a DGR now redundant. Such monies currently being accumulated in trust for the DGR (amounting already to $9 billion at present) would become available for use towards the introduction of the nuclear-waste-consuming load-following FNR/recycling approach of providing carbon-free power in Ontario as replacement power or as additional power for Ontario’s carbon-using economic sectors.

[Original Comment ID: 196451]