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Investigation into why Darlington workers were filling wrong tank CLARINGTON -- Workers at the Darlington nuclear station filled the wrong tank with a cocktail of water and a radioactive isotope Monday, spilling more than 200,000 litres into Lake Ontario. Ontario Power Generation is investigating how the accident happened and officials say hourly tests of the lake water show that the level of tritium - the radioactive isotope of hydrogen - poses no harm to nearby residents.

Investigation into why Darlington workers were filling wrong tank CLARINGTON -- Workers at the Darlington nuclear station filled the wrong tank with a cocktail of water and a radioactive isotope Monday, spilling more than 200,000 litres into Lake Ontario. Ontario Power Generation is investigating how the accident happened and officials say hourly tests of the lake water show that the level of tritium - the radioactive isotope of hydrogen - poses no harm to nearby residents.

"It will cost between $6 billion and $10 billion to refurbish the Darlington nuclear power station to extend its life by another 30 to 40 years. Energy Minister Brad Duguid released today what he calls the "best possible preliminary cost estimate," one day after Ontario Power Generation confirmed it would refurbish the plant. Duguid says that works out to about 8 cents per kilowatt-hour over the lifespan of the project, and defends the cost as an investment in the future stability of Ontario's electricity system. New Democrat critic Peter Tabuns says $6 billion to $10 billion is a huge price range, especially when nuclear projects always come in over budget. Tabuns wants the government to make sure Ontario taxpayers are not on the hook for cost overruns for Darlington, which is some 70 kilometres east of Toronto. OPG also announced Tuesday it would spend $300 million to keep the Pickering nuclear station going for another 10 years before it is mothballed."

A local anti-nuclear group, Safe and Green Energy Peterborough, will get $37,000 from a federal agency to review its study for the proposed Darlington nuclear plant expansion, the group announced yesterday. "SAGE is extremely proud of this recognition and achievement, as it is a true community group that has been challenging the intent of the Ontario government to expand nuclear supply when the alternatives of renewable energy and conservation are safer, more community oriented and less costly," the group states in a release. John Etches, with Safe and Green Energy, couldn't be reached for comment yesterday. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency participant funding program approved five applications worth a total of $155,927. There were eight applications for a total of $314,242.

A local anti-nuclear group, Safe and Green Energy Peterborough, will get $37,000 from a federal agency to review its study for the proposed Darlington nuclear plant expansion, the group announced yesterday. "SAGE is extremely proud of this recognition and achievement, as it is a true community group that has been challenging the intent of the Ontario government to expand nuclear supply when the alternatives of renewable energy and conservation are safer, more community oriented and less costly," the group states in a release. John Etches, with Safe and Green Energy, couldn't be reached for comment yesterday. The Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency participant funding program approved five applications worth a total of $155,927. There were eight applications for a total of $314,242.

Did you know that the Ontario government intends to sign a contract worth more than $26 billion for the building of two new reactors at the Darlington nuclear station? This project alone will cost more than the Ontario Power Authority has budgeted for its entire nuclear program for the next 20 years. Spending $26 billion on this project will mean there is less government money for grants to find sustainable ways to get the power we need for Ontario's residents. Sustainable energy sources that are better, cheaper and cleaner than nuclear energy. We can keep the lights on in Ontario without going further into debt by feeding the nuclear vampire.

A private consortium is staking a $30-million gamble that the province will allow it to build a nuclear power plant in Nanticoke. Bruce Power announced plans yesterday to build two nuclear reactors in Haldimand County, on an 800-hectare site almost next door to the Nanticoke coal plant, which will be shut down by 2014. But the province says it has no plans for a nuclear plant on the site. It plans instead to build two nuclear reactors at the Darlington nuclear generating station east of Oshawa by 2018.

City council called last night for the province to suspend uranium exploration -- the same day the provincial government announced it would build two new nuclear reactors at its Darlington station. John Kittle, with the Community Coalition Against Mining Uranium, urged council to pass the resolution calling for the moratorium. Allowing mining companies to explore for uranium in Ontario watersheds is a recipe for disaster, Kittle said.

As much-ballyhooed Green Energy Act makes its debut, the province is forging ahead with its plan for a two-reactor plant at Darlington Energy and Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman will table today the government's new Green Energy Act, a much-anticipated batch of legislative measures aimed at stimulating the deployment of renewable power across the province and creating thousands of green-collar jobs.

The much-heralded nuclear "renaissance" appears to have stalled this summer, at least temporarily -- not because of unsettled questions over the disposal of radioactive waste, or fear of nuclear accidents, but because the costs of building new reactors is proving prohibitive. That, at least, was Premier Dalton McGuinty's explanation for his government's recent decision not to proceed with two new reactors for Ontario's Darlington facility. They were expected to cost $6 billion; the final tally from Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, the winning bidder, was rumoured to be closer to $26 billion.

The fate of nuclear energy in Ontario, once assured, appears more ambiguous than ever after one high-profile project was recently put on hold and another scrapped altogether. On July 23, Ontario's Bruce Power -- a private generator company that produces a fifth of the province's electricity -- said that because of declining energy demand, it will focus on refurbishing its two remaining units rather than going ahead with an application to build new reactors. The decision came less than a month after the province announced it was suspending a reported $26-billion proposal to build two new reactors at its Darlington site, a project that would consume the province's entire 20-year budget to ramp up its 40-year-old fleet.

Cabinet minister Rick Bartolucci is 100% for his government's plans to build new nuclear reactors and 100% against storing their waste in his constituency. I don't see a conflict in regard to my government's direction at all," Bartolucci, the minister for community safety and corrections, said Monday. I see this as simply articulating the views of my constituency." The Liberal government under Premier Dalton McGuinty is poised to announce the company that will build two nuclear reactors at the Darlington generating plant -- worth an estimated $26 billion. Bartolucci says he supports that plan enthusiastically -- just not storing any of the radioactive waste in his riding of Sudbury.

Ontario, Canada's economic hub, announced Monday the suspension of its plan to build two new nuclear reactors, citing concerns about vendor Atomic Energy Canada Limited's viability, and pricing. The provincial government said AECL's bid to build the two new nuclear power plants at its Darlington station, 43 miles (70 kilometers) east of Toronto, by 2018 was the only one to meet its terms and objectives. The project was to be the first step in the modernization of Ontario's aging nuclear fleet. France's Areva and Westinghouse Electric Company, a subsidiary of Japan's Toshiba, had also bid on the project in February.

What will keep the lights on in Ontario 10 years from now? That question was left unanswered this week when the province announced it would spend $300 million to keep the Pickering nuclear station open for another decade before mothballing it. There was no announcement on what will replace Pickering's aging Candu reactors and their 3,000 megawatts of power (about 10 per cent of Ontario's electricity capacity) after the station closes in 2020. The provincial government wants to build two next-generation Candu reactors at its Darlington nuclear station. But the price tag on those reactors (a reported $26 billion) caused the government sticker shock, and the procurement process was suspended last June. Environmentalists say not to worry, that a combination of renewable energy installations (wind, solar, etc.) and conservation programs will fill the power gap. But industrial power users are not counting on that. Nor should residential consumers."

Three companies vying to build Canada´s first new nuclear power reactors in 15 years will have an extra three months to make their pitch to the Ontario government, Energy Minister George Smitherman said Friday. The extension of the deadline until the end of the year is needed because of the complexity of the multibillion-dollar project, Smitherman said.

As Ontario comes close to deciding who it will pay $20 billion to build two new nuclear reactors, the Canadian bidder is already worried that it will face large cost overruns. The warnings are contained in the secret documents left by a former member of Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt's staff at CTV's Ottawa bureau recently. In the documents is a page dealing with the bid by Atomic Energy Canada Ltd. (AECL), which hopes to win the contract. On that page is the following statement: "... There is the risk there could be large cost overruns." It goes on to say that certain conditions the federal government imposed on AECL "have resulted in the AECL consortium submitting a highly-priced bid." Ontario would be likely to ask AECL to lower its price, it said.