The Goderich Signal-Star, 1974-03-21, Page 9.00URRi:Ct-1 8toNA,Li-STA t, THURSDAY, MARCH 21.. 1$74,--pA
A lengthy position paper has
been filed by mail to thea 'On-
tario Energy Board, --the
Honorable Darcy McKeough,
Ontario Hydro, Members of the
Oppositio�,nri'arties at Queen's
Park, ,,e'deral Government of-
ficials,. representatives of the
Federal Political parties and
other • groups concerned about ,
the proposed expansion of the
CANDU nuclear power.
The report has been
thoroughly researched and con-
tains many recommendations
to be considered before making
a firm decision to abide with
nuclear energy as the major
source of `energy in Ontario,
Some of ,these recommen-
dations are: that there be an
immediate research into all,the
uncertainties and dangers.i_'of
nuclear;. power and these ,be
'clarified and settled;
That :a large percentage of
funds and expertise presently
1
involved in the nuclear: power
program be re -directed toward
research, Into alternative
methods of energy production;
That the government initiate
a detailed studk of energy use
to enable an objective study pf
benefits and demands;
' " That the government deter-
., mine procedures to alleviate
the energy ' problem in a
rational' manner by initiating
activitjes. in . conservation of
energy as opposed to more
energy production'
That the case „for nuclear
power be placed• before the
people„ in an honest and 'un-
prejudicial. manner with the
real advantages and disadvan-
tages balanced squarely.
Because of the very large in-
vestment of both Federal and
Provincial government funds
the true cost: of generating
.nuclear power can be quite
• misleading. The....high cost of
' abuilding a nuclear reactor has
to be regarded as a total write-
'• off at the end of 30 years. This
is .due to the radio -active con-
tamination level at the end of
the reactor's expected life of 30
years:` alt is , economically un-
feasible to. re -cycle any of the
value of the power plant.
Due to the- danger of they
radio -,active material used to
produce nuclear power the
station has to be far removed
from the population centre that
it is designed to benefit. The ex-
tra. •cost in transporting the
power to these centresaand the
land los', in doing so has to be
'Charged against the economic
benefits of 'a nuclear station,
The report- also contains a
number ofalternatives to
nuclear power. One such ,alter-
native is harnessing solar
power. Sunlight; it is.suggested,
could be collected and be used
to boil water or some other'
liquid which in turn is used in
the conventional manner to
produce 'electricity.
It has' been stated that .the
average daily amount of solar
energy that falls on Lake Erie
exceeds—the total consu option
figure for Canada's neighbour,.
the ° United States, from ;all,
energy sources combined,-
during the same period..,
Direct conversion hash also
been suggested for using solar
.power. This method. is deemed
more • versatile and would
provide power where it is
needed. This system proposes
space screens for the dir„ect cora-'
version of solar energy into
electricity coupled with laser
projection systems to beam the
- power directly to the industrial
hearts of ,the . continent ,thus
eliminating the costly and of-,
Pensive power line systems
presently in use. ”
.The roof of a house can also
ydro meeting attendedo
by 300 answer seekers
Y
About -300 people attended
the, public meeting sponsored
' by Ontario Hydro, in the town'
hall on Thursday, March 14, to
discuss the impact of proposed
expansion at the Bruce Nuclear—
Power Development on the
surrounding communities.
Although few local residents
questioned the panel 'of ,Hydro
experts,. several people from
other areas asked about"'safety;
pollution arid. the hydro
corridors.
There was little 'actual
discussion of the impact of the
expansion on Kincardine. Bill
)4lagle, Kincardine, asked when
the' results of the impact study
being conducted .by ' M.M.
Dillon; a consulting
would be ,released and, if the •
report would speed up the legal
processes that inevitably slow
down building and expansion
programs., Nr. Nagle
specifically mentioned the need
for expanded facilities at .the
" `Ifiincardirie • ho§tii'tial' and 'the
time-lag between applications
being made and work actually,
beginning. • •
Sam. Horton; BNPD project
manager, said the report would
. be completed byearly summer
but by the time Hydro assessed •
the report and turned it over to '
the ministry it would be the
end of the year at least before
anything'cam.e of the report. He
' added that the report would
not speed the usual processes at
Queen' -s- Park in any way. •
"Hydro , will-• present the
urgency , of the matters to the
goertament , to help speed up
proceedings independent of the
results of the - Dillon report,"
. Mr.. Horton assured Mr. Nagle.
Burton -Hodgins, chairman of
the Brace -Huron Hydro
Corridor Negotiating Commit-
tee and 'other farmers stated
their concern over Hydro's plan
to use good agricultural 'land
for the l corridor and accused
Hydro, of taking more land
than .is needed' to carry out the
power' from the. proposed
generating stations. Bruce
Nunn, 'an area, farmer,'pointed
° out that even if Hydro leases
the land around ,the towers
back to the'. 'farmers; this
acreage would be out of
production for �at least four
yearsn at a"time when the world
needs all the food that can be
produced. The land would be
unused during a possible two-
year construction period, he
' contended, ''arid another ' two
years while the soil,waa retur-
ned to • productivity.' -,
. Mr. Hodgins also said the
ail ouptijof money offered .the
farmers for their land is not in
line with prices paid elsewhere
in the province nor with the
current rate of inflation in the,
area. -
Cottage-ow,ners at ° In-
verhuron from Kitchener. and
Hamilton, also questioned the
panel about the decrease in the
market value of their land as a
t result of therestrictions im-
posed "by the Atomic Energy
Control Board in a five -mile'
radius of the heavy water
plant. They wanted to know if
.Ontario Hydro planned to give,
allowances to cottage -owners
who wanted to sell' out but
could not get a faits price- .in
relation to the land prices out-
side the controlled area.
Sam Horton advised the: cot-
tage -owners that Ontari,o
Hydro preferred not to buy cot-
tages in Inverhuron because
they were confident a realistic
market would return in In-
verhuron in time.'
bn
.Several people expressed con-
cern about the safety of the
radioactive waste" storage
methods, the 'damage to,,
vegetation and people by the
sulphur dioxide and hydr9gen
sulphide, the effect on the 'fish
where' heated water is being
poured beck into the lake and
the liossibility of nuclear ex-
plosions if there were a failure
in the coolant °system at the
heavy water plant.
Ontario Flydro haddone ex-
tensive studies on all !the
questions and the, people were
assured 'by panel .members' of
the safety of the operation of a,
nuclear generating station and
oa heavy water plant.
Ftev. `James Weir of the Kin-
.: , cardine. Presbyterian Church
suggested thetrichurches might
have valuable input for the
,Dillon report if there were a
'way to `present th,e,inforrnation
to the consulting firm. Mr. Hor-
ton promised to arrange a
• meeting between the local
ministers and the consulting
_ - . -�.._
Anyone who attended' the
meeting hoping to change On-
t tario Hydro's stands went away,
disappointed. Top executives
and researchers frarii ,Atomic
Energy of Canada Ltd., Atomic
Energy.Control -Board and On-
tario Hydro were presept to ex -
lain' Hydro's plans and
policies regarding the expan;
sinn. The'questions were recor-
ded and will be included in a
report to the minister. of energy
who will decide their_effect on
the- program, if any
Local CANTDU group 4
asks pointe questions
Members of CANTDU attended 'the: informations meeting
called by Ontario Hydro in Kincardine last week.
• Mrs. Mary Ann Shanahan had written a brief regarding
the uncertainties of'•st-curage of nuclear wastes. She said.
• Hydro's:, arguments in favor of expanding the .nut;lear,..
program had'not been presented objectively to the public as
to whether the benefits outweigh the risks.
She charged that .reliancepn nuclear power would prevent
• or at least delay research into safer alternatives. and
suggested that a moratorium on nuclear expansion be
declared.
Elgin Horton of Hydro said waste management area on •
the Douglas Point site stored 40w level radioactive waste in
„concrete trenches which are monitored to detect leakage. He
. said this waste can be recovered.
Mrs. Shanahan argued that the life of radioactive waste,
.Plutonium 239; is 800,000 years. She concluded it was unfair,,,,_„
to create waste for future, generations until there is the
technical knowledge . to' handle it.
Horton countered4by saying that if Mrs..,Shanahan can .
speculate about the' future, she should also speculate that
future technology will discover ways to handle radioactive
waste. • v`)
'Paul'Carcoll was concerned about the possible location of
a nuclear .plant afGoderich. He said Huron's Official Plan
had been completed at great cost to the taxpayers and won-
dered why Hydro had not planned ahead .:with thecom-
munities in Huron,
Horton answered -that Hydro does plan'ahead. Plants are
being planned now for provision of power in 1.0 ,years, he
said. He commented it was naive to expect a 20 -year plan to
last for 20,,years and,•said'•a truly good plan will be flexible
enough' to change with changing conditions.
Marilyn Penfold asked about the life expectancy of
nuclear plants. She also wonderedwhat happens to
surrounding, communities when such plants die.
Horton told- her plants are expected to last a very long
time and would be repaired and ,updated as much as' .
possible. . He did admit that when. a plant becomes
inoperative in the future, the workers will.,become anent-
ployed.
1
•
be used to collect solar energy
te,, supply ana individual house
with its energy needs: This
method, the Biosphere Concept,
combines ,a living area, a
greenhouse, a solar heater and
a solar still'to produce the elec-,
tricity for. the house.
Proponents claim; several
power functions can be
operated independently from
any public utility at lower costs
than conventional- sources for
heat,,,water and waste disposal.
System to harness the wind
have beett,operating'on a Small
scale ,for many years. Conven-
tional •windtnill systems have
supplied houses °with power for
nearly 40 years. Scientists have
radically improved this system
and hope to bring this approach
-into operation in the Arctic.
There has been flnuch
discussion in Ontario in the
last few months on the topic of
producing methane gas from
organic waste. The Ontario
Federation of Agriculture has
been urging the Government of
Ontario to take a serious look
at the pdssibi'lities in this area.
An engineering firtp in the
U.S. has proposed a •systern of
heat difference conversion
using the oceans . as a ,power
source. The system operates on
the principle of .peat differences
between two water sources. One
particular source is the Gulf
Stream. Temperatures, on the
surface of this current vary up
to 45 degrees with tem-
peratures of 'water several
thousand feet below. E timates
placed the cost of „a floating
ower station at $17,000,000
r 10Q megawatts. The system
atso •,.provides ,the additional,,
benefit of using waste heat to
desalianate the water. "
• The main purpose of the
suggestions contained in this
report are to demonstrate that
work is being 'done to, secure" -
power sources at less coat and
danger ' than nuclear .power.
The successful development of
such power projects, however: ,
will be difficult and environ-
^ mental prob1enl,s,,With sdrne of
them would be unreasonable to
deny. Yet the problems seem
slight when compared to the
unique dangers awl unknown
complications of nuclear power.
A.H. Booth of the Depart-
ment • of National Health- and
Welfare. has said, "It is now
generally 'agreed that there 'is
no 'threshold', no level so low
that the possibitttty of producing
an adverse health effect com-
pletely disappears. This being
so, the question ,as' to what
level issafe is a matter of
opinion only . . . It is a value
'that even the man on the street
can just as `well 'have an
opinion about."
"But is the public demanding
it? Or rather have the cards
been laid squarely on the table
sothat the public knowarwhat
it is demanding: when it is
choosing toy' forego when it
chooses ndclear.,power? Th an- •
swers to these questions vare •
crueitt44 we cannot claim that
the public rs demanding
something when' we have hin-
dered'
indered. responsible choice, or
when we have prejudreially;en-
couraged the demand, or when
we have done both", the brief
from- CANDU states. "As long
as we rely on nuclearpower as
• an energy answer, we will be
'reluctant to devote the atten-
t=on and funds necessary to
adequately ,develop ,alternate
sources", the brief continues.
"Our search for energy need::.
not be a desperate, unthinking
plunge. All that is required is
- the decision of government
. agencies to 'provide the much
needed funds", it concludes.
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SIGNAL -STAR
MLR. Chapman, president of the Royal Canadian Legion, present* a cheque for $1000 to•
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heaters placed ,in the arena for the spectators comfort, (legion photo) �'
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