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Nuclear Power: Cease Blanket Opposition
Preamble
Nuclear power is one of the lowest-carbon sources of electricity, as recognized by IPCC and United Nations ECE. A majority of Canadians support using nuclear energy to generate electricity.
Proposal text
Green Party of Canada WILL CEASE BLANKET-OPPOSITION TO NUCLEAR POWER AS A SOURCE OF LOW-CARBON ELECTRICITY PRODUCTION.
Type of Proposal
Public policy that the party would represent.
Objective / Benefit
This resolution is intended to withdraw existing GPC policies which oppose Canada's use of nuclear technologies for non-military purposes. GPC policies which impede nuclear by calling for "renewable" energy shall be updated to replace "renewable" with "clean".
If your proposal replaces an existing policy or policies, which one does it replace?
1996 Foreign Aid - repeal
G06-p11 Enhanced Nuclear Policy - repeal
1998 - Peace and Security - repeal
G08-p012 Nuclear Power - repeal
G10-p31 Carbon Free National Feed-in Tariff - Amend: remove "non-nuclear,"
G08-136 Energy Transition Plan - Amend: change "renewable energy" to "clean energy"
G08-p137 Support of Distributed Electrical Power Grid Research - Amend: change "renewable energy" to "clean energy"
List any supporting evidence for your proposal
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe issued a report comparing not just lifecycle carbon emissions for various electricity sources, but overall impact on the environment and human health. Nuclear power was the single lowest CO2eq /kWh electricity source studied. The single lowest impact on ecosystems. And among the very lowest impact on human health. (CO2: Page 8. Ecosystems: Page 57. Human health: Page 58.) https://unece.org/sed/documents/2021/10/reports/life-cycle-assessment-electricity-generation-options
Our World In Data summarizes a modern assessment of various electricity system's safety and cleanliness. While not as in-depth or recent as UN ECE's study, Our World In Data clearly positioned nuclear in 2020 as one of humanity's safest and cleanest energy sources. https://ourworldindata.org/safest-sources-of-energy
Despite his continued opposition to nuclear power, Dr. Gordon Edwards acknowledges "Low-carbon emitting technologies include solar, wind, hydro and nuclear" in a 2021 briefing paper. https://www.ourcommons.ca/content/Committee/441/ENVI/WebDoc/WD11891319/11891319/RamanaMV-1-e.pdf
In GPC's "Roundtable on Canada's Nuclear Policy" Dr. Gordon Edward observes that splitting atoms for energy does not release carbon. (Excerpt with my commentary:) https://youtu.be/HKIcnbMMdO0?t=24 (Original video:) https://www.facebook.com/GreenPartyofCanada/videos/934857067289154/
The nuclear supply chain for CANDU refurbishments is 98% Canadian. https://www.opg.com/documents/2021-ontario-nuclear-collaboration-report/
This can be contrasted with other low (but not as low as nuclear) carbon energy sources where components are not domestically produced, such as wind turbines: https://open.canada.ca/data/en/dataset/79fdad93-9025-49ad-ba16-c26d718cc070
Nuclear's domestic, Canadian, supply chain still achieves a cost /kWh only beaten by hydropower. https://www.oeb.ca/sites/default/files/rpp-price-report-20211022.pdf
On April 23, 2023, Dr. Chris Keefer debated Dr. Gordon Edwards on the subject of nuclear power in Canada. This was the "Roundtable on Canada's Nuclear Policy" that GPC members might have experienced, if a single pro-nuclear voice had been allowed to participate. https://youtu.be/LvMC8TK025w
Angus Reid Institute finds increasing support from Canadians for nuclear power. In June 2021, 51% of Canadians said they would like to see further development of nuclear power generation. Now 57% say the same. https://angusreid.org/canada-energy-nuclear-power-oil-and-gas-wind-solar/
This 57% of Canadians supporting nuclear matches a similar trend in the United States, where also now 57% support nuclear power. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/08/18/growing-share-of-americans-favor-more-nuclear-power/
Germany serves as a cautionary tale that renewables have not replaced their nuclear fleet. This video details use on online grid monitoring tools to evaluate Elizabeth May's statement (made during COP28) that shutting down nuclear power has "freed up" the grid to accept renewable energy, while not also noting that German grid remains high-carbon, and Germany immediately transitioned (upon the closure of their last nuclear power plants) from being net-exporter of electricity to net-importer of electricity. https://youtu.be/8rcMwmGuGSo
Does this proposal affect any particular group and what efforts have been made to consult with the group or groups?
N/A
Jurisdiction: Is this proposal under federal jurisdiction?
Yes
Please indicate the language the proposal is being submitted in.
English
This proposal is being evaluated
Posted on the Continuous Motion Development Vote tab for member review prior to the all-member vote.
Amendments (3)
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Created at
05/07/2024 -
- 6
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Created at
27/02/2024 -
- 0
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Created at
05/07/2024 -
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COST OF NUCLEAR
A new report by Lazard compares the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for various generation technologies on a $/MWh basis. It shows that utility-scale solar and onshore wind LCOE increased for the first time in 2023, at $24/MWh to $96/MWh for solar and $24/MWh to $75 MWh for wind. https://www.pv-magazine.com/2023/04/14/average-solar-lcoe-increases-for-first-time-this-year/
From an LCOE perspective solar and wind are still much cheaper than nuclear, but I don't think the falling prices solar and wind had experienced will be seen again.
But that's not the big news of Lazard's 2023 study. It is now there including firming costs. See page 8.
So, take firmed cost of solar and wind and on some grids they're beaten by nuclear. Beaten by Vogtle, the incredibly cost-overrun Georgia AP1000 builds.
https://twitter.com/energybants/status/1650331895492751360
And that's with Vogtle coming in way over budget.
Ontario's CANDU refurbs are now coming in under budget. Faster than projected.
https://cnwc-cctn.ca/bruce-opg-accumulate-candu-refurb-know-how-new-build-workforce-ii/
These skills don't necessarily apply to SMRs. There's no new CANDU (yet) being planned for anywhere in Canada. But I think it shows nuclear is not inherently more expensive than wind or solar. There's a right way to build nuclear, and we should be very aware of both how Vogtle went over-budget and how recent CANDU refurbs are being kept under-budget.
Apply those lessons to non-CANDU builds when possible.
Aside from these USA and Canada examples, we have France and Germany as examples of nations following these different technology paths.
Looking at the latest months for which there is data available (like evaluating how a company is doing we don't want to compare gift-buying months to stagnant months) we can compare May 2023 and June 2023 to the same months of last year, back when France was floundering and net-importing German electricity.
A year ago, in May, France was net-importing from Germany. This year, in May, Germany is (much more-so) importing from France.
2022-05: https://www.energy-charts.info/charts/import_export/chart.htm?l=en&c=DE&interval=month&month=05&year=2022
2023-05: https://www.energy-charts.info/charts/import_export/chart.htm?l=en&c=DE&interval=month&month=05
A year ago, in June, France was net-importing from Germany massively. This year, in June, Germany is now massively importing from France.
2022-06: https://www.energy-charts.info/charts/import_export/chart.htm?l=en&c=DE&interval=month&month=06&year=2022
2023-06: https://www.energy-charts.info/charts/import_export/chart.htm?l=en&c=DE&interval=month&month=06
German politicians were told they could use wind and solar to meet their energy needs. This was never happening, and the illusion was only maintained thanks to steady import of Russian gas.
Locking-in dependency on Canadian gas is better than Russian gas, but still carbon emitting.
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