Sell-off of AECL Could Be Good for Canada

OTTAWA – The reactor-wing of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), a Crown corporation which manages Canada’s nuclear program, is now up for sale. The Green Party of Canada supports this move as long as it ends the fifty years of federal subsidies to the nuclear industry and that the sale is in the best interest of Canadians.

The Green Party of Canada has called for the Auditor General to review details of any sale to ensure the terms are in the best interests of Canadians. Greens have also called for a rapid phase-out of nuclear energy and a moratorium on uranium mining and refining in Canada.

Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt has invited bids for AECL’s reactor-division assets, though the ailing Chalk River plant is not part of the deal. AECL has ongoing research and development programs that support operating CANDU stations. AECL partners for CANDU projects and nuclear services both in Canada and abroad with private sector businesses.

"The Harper government's sale of AECL could be good for the environment and the tax-payer. Canadians have already poured hundreds of millions of dollars into AECL and it is about time that we stop subsidizing this industry,” said Green Leader Elizabeth May. “It is also important that any private buyer is not subsidized by taxpayers.”

"Canada's nuclear industry is in disarray, throwing money at it will not solve this problem," said Green Energy and Natural Resources Critic Cathy MacLellan.  “This style of centralized, hugely expensive, hazardous waste-generating, large-scale energy project is not the way of the future.  We must now invest our money in diversified, renewable energy sources that are safe, community friendly, and economically sound. The federal subsidies to the nuclear industry should be used to support and promote a new green economy.”

“Nuclear renaissance is all about PR and spin,” said May. “Without government subsidies, perhaps AECL will die a natural death.”

By the end of their lifespan, Canada’s nuclear plants will have generated almost four million used fuel bundles, containing high-level radioactive nuclear waste.  There is as yet no acceptable plan to deal with this waste.

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