On Thursday March 24th, Greenpeace Volunteers hit downtown Toronto for the second time in four days to talk about the prospects of new nuclear reactors Ontario, and to encourage passersby to add their signature to a 'No Nukes Are Safe: Stop Darlington' banner. Beginning on the frosty corner of Queen and York before moving inside the Eaton Centre, the activity spanned two hours, with close to 150 signatures, comments, and drawings added to banner.
As a participant in this activity, it occurred to me that the public conception around nuclear energy has measurably changed since my days as a Greenpeace Street Canvasser.
There are many probable reasons for this change, in spite of the industry's perpetual assurances that nuclear power is cheap, safe, and reliable. There was a jump in the estimated cost of new reactors at Darlington Station from six billion to 26 billion dollars, as well as the hundreds of millions of tax dollars used to bailout fledgling Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. These inflating economics can cause concerns. The protection the industry demands under the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act, whereby nuke operators are only on the hook to pay 75 million in an accident scenario may also generate some alarm bells. It might also be consistent news of leaks from Pickering, the last of which saw at least 73 000 litres of water containing tritium released from the station that make us wonder how safe nuclear power is.
All of these concerns have a way crystallizing when we see the unfolding nuclear disaster at Fukushima, and consider the environmental, social, and economic impacts resulting from the crisis.
Perhaps all of these factors working in unison can explain the remarkably broad demographic that were eager to voice their opposition to new reactors at Darlington. Indeed, the signatures on our banner were from concerned individuals that were young, older, male, female, and from many different ethnic communities.
I can't recall this far reaching resistance when I was hitting the streets as a Greenpeace Canvasser.
When even the security guard who removes you from the Eaton Centre for doing an unauthorized activity offers to sign your banner when he's off the clock, you know there is a lot of resistance to new nuclear reactors at Darlington.
Some messages on the ‘No Nukes Are Safe’ Banner:
“Smart investment please -- No More Nukes” -- Matt A.
“A Risk Greater Than Zero is Too Much! There Are Clean Alternatives!” -- Paul C.
“Stop The Short Term Thinking” -- Laura A.
“Heaven Help To Hold Our Hands/ Help Us Make It Through/ A Lot of People Know What I’m Talking About/Because They’re Worried Too!” -- anonymous