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Great Lakes United
Resolution for a Nuclear-Free Québec
June 2003
Whereas the use of nuclear power carries with it special risks having potentially irreversible consequences for ecosystems and human societies, and
Whereas the Gentilly-2 nuclear reactor (the only nuclear power reactor operating in Quebec) cannot continue to function beyond the year 2008 without extensive and very costly repairs necessitated by accelerated aging, and
Whereas Hydro-Quebec's Board of Directors is expected to approve the Gentilly-2 repair project within the next year and that Hydro-Quebec's nuclear division has stated that the probable costs of these repairs to be $845 million, adopting the same cost estimate used for Gentilly-2's "twin", New Brunswick's Point Lepreau reactor, and
Whereas the Public Utilities Commission of New Brunswick, declared in 2002 that the true costs of repairing the Point Lepreau reactor might well be considerably more than the $845 million currently estimated and recommended against repairing the Point Lepreau reactor on the grounds that the financial risks are too great to be in the public interest, and
Whereas Hydro-Quebec's nuclear division is currently seeking permission from the Government of Quebec to greatly expand the existing outdoor facility for storing high-level radioactive waste - an expansion which would not be justified unless the multi-million dollar repair project is ultimately approved, and
Whereas the Government of Robert Bourassa established a policy in 1989 that Quebec will not permit the permanent storage of high-level radioactive wastes anywhere in Quebec or on its borders, and
Whereas there are thousands of high-level radioactive used fuel bundles currently maintained in "temporary storage" containers outside the Gentilly- 2 reactor building, near the shores of the St. Lawrence River, and
Whereas there is currently no acceptable method for permanently "disposing of" these highly radioactive fuel bundles, despite $700 million in research conducted by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and Ontario Hydro over a fifteen-year period (from 1978 to 1993), and
Whereas the planned Gentilly-2 repairs will necessitate the storage of several thousand additional highly radioactive fuel bundles outside the reactor building and several hundred irradiated metallic pressure tubes which will remain dangerous for tens of thousands of years and will have to be packaged and stored outdoors, and
Whereas retiring the Gentilly-2 reactor without repairing it, will halt the production of high-level radioactive wastes in the province of Quebec and remove a potential target from international terrorist groups - the only nuclear facility on the St. Lawrence River, and
Whereas the electricity produced by the Gentilly-2 reactor has always been the most expensive base-load electricity in Quebec and is not a significant fraction of total electricity production in Quebec, and
Whereas the Government of Réné Lévesque imposed a moratorium in 1978 on the construction of any new nuclear power plants in Quebec - a moratorium that was upheld by subsequent governments, and
Whereas there have been no new nuclear power reactors ordered anywhere in North America since 1978 and no electrical utilities in any of the provinces or territories of Canada that are planning to build any new nuclear reactors, and
Whereas an increasing number of European countries have enacted legislation to phase out of nuclear power, such as Sweden, Germany, and Belgium, and
Whereas it will be much easier for Quebec to phase out of nuclear power because it does not have a reliance on nuclear-generated electricity, and
Whereas investing $800 million in community-based energy conservation projects throughout Quebec will produce more electricity through energy savings and create more jobs in all the regions of Quebec, than spending that amount of money to repair the aging Gentilly-2 reactor.
Therefore be it resolved that Great Lakes United urges the Government of Quebec to:
- not to approve the expansion of the outdoor high-level radioactive waste facility at Gentilly-2, and
- instruct the Board of Directors of Hydro-Quebec not to approve the planned repairs of the Gentilly-2 reactor, and
- announce as a matter of public policy that Quebec will be the first jurisdiction in North America to phase out of nuclear power as of 2008 at the latest, by which time Gentilly-2 will be permanently shut down, and
- announce as a matter of public policy that funds which would have been allocated to the repair of Gentilly- 2 will instead be invested in community-based energy conservation projects throughout Quebec
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE COPY OF A RESOLUTION ADOPTED BY GREAT LAKES UNITED AT THE JUNE 8, 2003 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING IN SAULT SAINT MARIE, ONTARIO
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Jim Mahon, Vice President
http://www.glu.org/english/information/resolutions/resolutions-2003/A-nuclear-free-Quebec.doc
Great Lakes United is a coalition of 160 community-based and regional environmental and conservation organizations in 9
U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces devoted to protecting the environment of the Great Lakes ecosystem.
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