COM 0212.129 1996-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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_ A~t~~~~~, ~~;u~ (3 ~"~~~t C~~f~eA_u,,l NUCLEAR SUNSET: THE ECONOMIC COSTS OF THE CANADIAN NUCLEAR INDUSTRY by David H. Martin Nuclear Awareness Project and David Argue David Argue Consulting EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Canadian nuclear industry was created through government intervention, and from the beginning relied on public funding. Now, fifty years later, the nuclear industry continues to depend on significant subsidies from taxpayers. Despite its failure to become financially self-supporting, the Canadian nuclear industry promotes itself by stressing its supposed contributions to the Canadian economy. The most recent major public relations exercise of this nature was sponsored by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) and conducted by the consulting firm of Ernst & Young. The resulting report, entitled The Economic Effects of the Canadian Nuclear Industry, released in October 1993, has been uncritically accepted by many federal decision-makers. The present report, called Nucleaz Sunset: The Economic Costs of the Canadian Nuclear Industry is a response to the Ernst & Young report, in the area of "economic benefits" and AECL subsidies (section 2), and also in the area of direct employment (section 3). Nuclear Sunset also identifies three other areas of concern, where AECL continues to drain the public purse and put the taxpayer in even greater risk of future liability. These areas are AECL's Isotope Business (section 4); AECL's Decommissioning Liability (section 5); and Federal Heavy Water Investments (section 6). The nuclear industry in Canada is truly a "sunset industry". Activity and employment both peaked around 1980, and have declined steadily since. Foreign sales have largely failed to materialize, and nuclear construction proposals in Canada have been cancelled. The federal government faces a decision on nuclear subsidies not only for the 1996 budget, but also in connection with the imminent expiry of a seven-year Memorandum of Understanding between the federal government, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick on funding for AECL (see section 3.4). The MOU was initiated in 1990 by Jake Epp, former Tory Minister of Energy Mines and Resources, and it expires on April 1, 1997. The Province of Ontario has recently cut back its funding of AECL through this program. The federal government and the provinces (mainly Ontario) must soon decide whether to renew their subsidies for the Canadian nuclear industry. 1