Transcript PowerPoint Presentation - Uranium Citizens Inquiry

Sustainable Energy Solutions
Nuclear Power in Canada
An Examination of Risks, Impacts
and Sustainability
Mark Winfield, Ph.D.
April 2008
© 2006 Pembina Institute
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Project Origins
 Power for the Future
 No complete analysis of nuclear impacts and risks in
Canadian context available
 Ontario Power Authority December 2005 “Supply
Mix Advice”
 Nuclear proposals for oil sands
 Canadian Nuclear Association “clean” “affordable”
and “reliable” advertising campaign
 Proposals for uranium mining in Ontario, Nunavut,
Maritimes
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Project Scope
 Life Cycle Approach
 Uranium mining and milling
 Fuel refining, conversion and fabrication
 Power plant construction, operation and
decommissioning
 Waste fuel management
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Uranium Fuel Cycle
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Mining
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Milling (Key Lake and Rabbit Lake)
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Blind River Refinery
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Conversion
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Fuel Production
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Power Plant Operation
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Project Scope
 Assessed portion of upstream impacts
attributable to Canadian energy production
 approximately 16% of total Canadian uranium
production
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Project Scope
 Environmental and health impacts and risks
 Atmospheric releases
 (radiation, radionuclides, hazardous and criteria air pollutants,
greenhouse gases)
 Water quality and use
 Radioactive, conventional and hazardous pollutants,water use,
thermal impacts
 Waste generation
 Radioactive, hazardous and high volume wastes
 Landscape and ecosystem impacts
 Occupational and community health
 Routine and accidental events
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Project Scope
 Sustainability considerations
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Costs and construction timeframes and risks
Performance, reliability and flexibility
Fuel supply and costs
Security and weapons proliferation risks
Impacts and risks to future generations
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How it works
 http://www.opg.com/power/nuclear/howitwor
ks.asp
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Key Impacts and Risks
Overview
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Uranium Mining Overview
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Yellowcake Product
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Types of Uranium Mines: Surface
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Types of Uranium Mines:
Underground
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Types of Uranium Mines: Heap
Leaching
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Types of Uranium Mines: In-situ
Leaching
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Canadian Uranium Production
Sustainable Energy Solutions
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Waste Generation
 Uranium mine/mill tailings
 Approx 575,000 tonnes per year
 Acidic or potentially acid generating
 Contain radionuclides, heavy metals and other
contaminants
 TMFs associated with severe surface and groundwater
contamination, atmospheric releases of radon and
radionuclides in windblown dust
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Waste Generation
 Uranium mine/mill tailings
 Estimated 213 million tonnes of tailings in
storage in Canada
 Equivalent volume of approximately 100
Skydomes
 TMF Failures
 “Perpetual environmental hazards”
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Quirke Mine Tailings Elliot Lake
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TMF Hazards
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Waste Generation
 Waste rock from mining operations
 Up to 18 million tonnes per year
 May also contain radionuclides, heavy metals
and be acid generating
 Require perpetual care
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Waste Generation
 Power Plant operation
 85,000 waste fuel bundles generated each year
 1.7 million waste fuel bundles in storage at
power plants (2003)
 Severe environmental, safety and security risks
 Will require isolation for 1 million years
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Waste Fuel Bundle
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Water Impacts
 Uranium mine/mill discharges a CEPA ‘toxic’
substance
 Uranium, other radionuclides
 Heavy metals (Nickel, Arsenic, Lead)
 Conventional pollutants
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Atmospheric Impacts
 Radon gas releases from mines and TMFs
 Radionuclides and heavy metals (Arsenic, Nickel)
in windblown dust from mines and TMFs
 Uranium, hazardous air pollutant releases from
refining/conversion operations
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Atmospheric Impacts
 Releases of SOx, NOx, Volatile Organic
Compounds from mine/mill operations
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Climate Change
 GHG emissions from:
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Facility construction, maintenance and refurbishment
Mining, milling, and tailings management activities
Refining and conversion operations
Road transportation of materials and wastes
 Total GHG releases for domestic power production
estimated at least 800,000-1 million tonnes per
year
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Climate Change
 Key variables re: GHGs and nuclear power
 Quality of uranium ore used as basis for fuel
 Use of enriched vs. non-enriched uranium fuel
 Primary energy source for construction and fuel
production.
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GHG Emission Estimates (University
of Sydney 2006)
Sustainable Energy Solutions
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Landscape and Ecosystem
Impacts
 Facility footprint small
 Impacts of mine/mill operations extend well
beyond facility boundary
 Windblown dust containing radionuclides and
heavy metals, surface and groundwater
contamination, flow disruption
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Community and Occupational
Health
 Radiation exposure and “Nuclear energy
workers”
 Elevated mortality and illness among uranium
miners (radon and silica exposure)
 High levels of exposure in fuel fabrication
 Health risks to consumers of ‘country’ food
(particularly caribou) in vicinity of mine/mill
operations
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Community and Occupational
Health
 Community health impacts of routine and
accidental releases of radiation and radionuclides
from power plants and fuel production facilities
highly disputed
 Recent science suggests no level of exposure
safe, and infants and children at particular risk
 Current Canadian drinking water standards for
Tritium 10x weaker than US and EU
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Occupational and Community
Health
 Health impacts of serious accident/incident
 Economic impact of serious accident at
Darlington (east of Toronto) estimated at $1
trillion (1991)
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Sustainability Challenges
 Capital cost and construction timelines and
risks
 Difficulty attracting private capital even with
assumption of economic risks by government
 2005 Bruce Power Deal as archetype
 Facility reliability
 Ontario Hydro Nuclear Asset Optimization Plan
(NAOP)
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Sustainability Challenges
 System inflexibility
 Crowding out of renewable and distributed
generation, particularly re: grid access
 E.g. Bruce Peninsula transmission issues
 Path Dependency
 Adaptive Capacity
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Sustainability Challenges
 Fuel supply and cost
 Dramatic price increases since 2001
 Supply of high grade uranium limited (approx 40 years)
 Use of lower grade uranium implies higher
environmental impacts from mining/milling including
higher GHG emissions
 Fuel reprocessing presents severe environmental,
security and weapons proliferation risks
 Fast breeder reactors present similar challenges
 Other options (seawater extraction) unproven, major
technical, economic and environmental challenges
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Sustainability Challenges
 Weapons proliferation
 North Korea, Iran, India, Pakistan
 Security risks
 Power plants and waste fuel storage facilities as
potential terrorist targets
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Trade offs
 Advantages
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Low GHG emissions relative to conventional fossil fuels
Large energy output
Low environmental impacts at power generation sites
Low geopolitical risk fuel supply
Potential for growth of domestic nuclear industry
High value employment in remote areas
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Trade Offs
 Disadvantages
 High non-GHG environmental and health impacts,
especially upstream
 Extremely long lived waste streams requiring perpetual care
 High capital investment risks
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High construction costs
Long construction timelines
History of cost-overruns and construction delays
Private capital not interested unless guaranteed return on
investment and externalization of risks and liabilities
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Sustainable Energy Solutions
Trade offs
 Unreliable (especially CANDUs)
 Security and weapons proliferation risks
 High path dependency
 non-adaptive
 Inflexible
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