{"id":84375,"date":"2026-07-03T23:58:44","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T03:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/?p=84375"},"modified":"2026-07-04T06:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T10:50:07","slug":"nuclear-energy-strategy-a-cash-cow-for-the-nuclear-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/03\/nuclear-energy-strategy-a-cash-cow-for-the-nuclear-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Nuclear Energy Strategy a “Cash Cow” for the Nuclear Industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Critics from civil society organizations and academia are calling out the Nuclear Energy Strategy for Canada released by the Federal Government as a cash cow for the nuclear industry and a hubris-driven attempt to grab world \u201cenergy superpower\u201d status based on past-Century technology.<\/p>\n

The Strategy, released on June 22, is an ambitious agenda to spend public funds on new nuclear reactors to the detriment of readily available clean renewable sources, and to short-circuit independent oversight of nuclear projects.<\/p>\n

The document reads like a wish list of nuclear developments, including the goal of 10 new large reactor projects in Canada by 2040. It parallels a US announcement made the next day, also promising 10 new large reactor projects and standing to benefit some of the same corporations.<\/p>\n

Critics are calling the Canadian strategy a gross economic mistake, dangerous for human health and security, and a diversion from urgently needed action on safer, faster and cheaper energy alternatives. The federal initiative would seriously delay or derail an urgently needed energy transition, buying time for the fossil fuel sector and funneling billions of tax dollars to well-connected nuclear industry players.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the world moves urgently to clean renewables and storage to meet electricity needs, Canada is diverting major resources to dirty, dangerous and absurdly expensive Cold War era technology which will burden future generations,\u201d commented J. P. Unger, director with the Greenspace Alliance of Canada\u2019s Capital.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strategy reads like a public relations fantasy rather than the cost data and financial risks analysis that would attract private investment” said Dr. Susan O’Donnell, Sustainability and Environmental Studies Program, St. Thomas University.<\/p>\n

“This strategy is not fooling anyone who is serious about the energy transition. Private money is pouring into wind, solar and energy storage developments, not nuclear energy – by far the most expensive way to generate electricity.”<\/p>\n

\u201cLost is the memory of massive cost overruns and extensive delays that plagued the construction of the current fleet of reactors in the 1970s and \u201880s. Those decisions led to the demise of \u201cOntario Hydro\u201d \u2013 death by drowning (in debt),\u201d said Gordon Edwards, President of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cGone is the \u201csticker shock\u201d that caused Ontario to cancel the last push for a nuclear \u201crenaissance\u201d in the early 2000s. Forgotten are the financial realities of previous international sales, where Canada swallowed huge losses (Argentina) or accepted goods like strawberries rather than actual money (Romania) in exchange for the CANDU reactors they were peddling overseas\u201d.<\/p>\n

The document also promises to \u201cstreamline\u201d the regulation of nuclear projects by removing independent oversight and speeding up approvals. This presents a huge public risk when dealing with inherently dangerous technology like nuclear power.<\/p>\n

The government is also promoting the export of home-grown CANDU reactors, something that will facilitate the proliferation of nuclear weapons, as happened when Canada gifted reactor technology to India, sparking an arms race in South Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cPutting all our eggs in the nuclear exports basket completely ignores the risk of a major nuclear accident anywhere in the world, which history has shown will immediately tank enthusiasm for this technology,\u201d said Anne Lindsey, an organizer with the Manitoba Energy Justice Coalition\u2019s No-Nukes campaign<\/p>\n

The pressing issue of nuclear waste is sandwiched into the section of the strategy on massive expansion of uranium production, with false claims and reassurances that the problem has been solved by handing the long-term management of nuclear waste over to the nuclear industry. A deep geological repository for high-level waste proposed for northwestern Ontario is taken as if already established despite major questions and opposition, including legal challenges.<\/p>\n

Two days after the Nuclear Strategy was released the federal government announced that the Nuclear Waste Management Organization\u2019s proposed Deep Geological Repository was being considered for listing as a \u201cProject of National Interest\u201d under the Build Canada Act, meaning that its approval would be guaranteed.<\/p>\n

\u201cDesignating NWMO\u2019s DGR project as a Project of National Interest would be a betrayal of public trust\u201d, commented Brennain Lloyd with the northern Ontario based environmental coalition Northwatch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project is unprecedented, it\u2019s still at a conceptual stage of development, the transportation will impact millions along the route, and the waste is lethal virtually forever. That project approval could be a foregone conclusion – despite the lack of evidence that the project can be done safety – is absolutely beyond reason\u201d.<\/p>\n

The nuclear strategy followed the discussion paper Getting Major Projects Built in Canada and the National Strategy for an Electrified Canadian Economy, both released in early May. The discussion paper announces plans to gut the impact assessment process for nuclear projects, while the electricity strategy promotes nuclear power ahead of lower cost options such as renewable energy and energy efficiency which could be brought online much more quickly.<\/p>\n

Unlike the discussion paper and the electricity strategy, there is no public comment period on the Nuclear Energy Strategy for Canada.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Critics from civil society organizations and academia are calling out the Nuclear Energy Strategy for Canada released by the Federal Government as a cash cow for the nuclear industry and a hubris-driven attempt to grab world \u201cenergy superpower\u201d status based on past-Century technology. The Strategy, released on June 22, is an ambitious agenda to spend …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":83422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-northern-ontario"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-11 09:23:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84375"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84377,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84375\/revisions\/84377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wawa-news.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}