December 2006 Nuclear Power in Canada: An Examination of Risks, Impacts and Sustainability Mark Winfield, PhD Alison Jamison Rich Wong Sustainable Energy Solutions Paulina Czajkowski Acknowledgements The Pembina Institute wishes to thank the EJLB Foundation and the Oak Foundation for their financial support of this project. We are grateful to our external reviewers who provided extremely helpful and constructive comments throughout the development of this report. We are also grateful to the staff of nuclear facilities and regulatory agencies who provided prompt responses to our many, and often very detailed questions. Design and Layout by Green Living Communications Cover photos: Rabbit Lake Uranium Mine: MiningWatch Canada; Bruce Nuclear Station: Bruce Power; Elliot Lake landscape: Jamie Kneen, MiningWatch Canada. Publication Date: December 2006 Authors: Mark Winfield, with contributions by Alison Jamison, Rich Wong, and Paulina Czajkowski ISBN 0-921719-87-6 About the Pembina Institute The Pembina Institute is an independent, not-for-profit environmental policy research and education organization specializing in the fields of sustainable energy, community sustainability, climate change and corporate environmental management. Founded in 1985 in Drayton Valley Alberta, the Institute now has offices in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto. For more information on the Institute’s work, please visit our website at www.pembina.org. About the Authors Mark Winfield, Ph.D., Director Environmental Governance, The Pembina Institute Mark Winfield is Director of the Pembina Institute’s Environmental Governance Program. Prior to joining Pembina he was Director of Research with the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy. Dr. Winfield holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto, and has published reports and articles on a wide range of environmental policy issues. He is also associate faculty with the University of Toronto’s Centre for the Environment. Alison Jamison, P.Eng., Senior Project Manager, The Pembina Institute Alison Jamison is a senior project manager with Pembina Corporate Consulting. Her work involves providing the corporate and government sectors strategic advice and support in developing their sustainable business strategies, including integrating eco-efficiency concepts and tools into core business practices. Key components of her work include technical support, project management, and facilitating both triple-bottom-line design of capital projects and systems thinking in decision-making. Alison also helps to identify and characterize sustainable business opportunities, including pre-feasibility studies to assess the viability of potential projects. Alison’s background involves varied experience in process optimization and project management in the oil and gas and chemical sectors. She has a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Alberta. Rich Wong, Eco-Efficiency Analyst, The Pembina Institute Rich Wong is an eco-efficiency analyst with the Pembina Institute’s Corporate Consulting Services. Rich has a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from McMaster University and brings four years of industrial process experience as well as modeling and programming experience on a variety of platforms. Rich has researched different energy supply systems, supported the review of sustainability reporting, helped develop the Pembina Institute’s Life Cycle Value Assessment (LCVA) Clearinghouse, and evaluated the current state of the carbon offsets market in North America. He also has experience managing small- to medium-sized projects and has experience applying life cycle assessment concepts to conventional power systems. Paulina Czajkowski, B.A.Sc. Eco-Efficiency Analyst, The Pembina Institute (until December 2005). Paulina Czajkowski is a graduate of the University of Waterloo’s engineering program. She has a diverse range of work experience spanning the public, private and non-profit NGO sectors, including research of life cycle impacts in the energy sector. Nuclear Power in Canada: An Examination of Risks, Impacts and Sustainability • The Pembina Institute 3 Executive summary This study examines the environmental impacts of of criteria (i.e. smog and acid-rain causing), radioac- the use of nuclear energy for electricity generation tive and hazardous pollutants and greenhouse gases. in Canada through each of the four major stages Effluent from uranium mines and mills was found of nuclear energy production: uranium mining and by Health Canada and Environment Canada to be milling; uranium refining, conversion and fuel fabri- ‘toxic’ for the purposes of the Canadian Environmental cation; nuclear power plant operation; and waste fuel Protection Act in 2004. management. It is intended to inform public debate What is particularly noteworthy about the radio- over the future role of nuclear energy in Canada, and active waste streams produced at every stage of the to facilitate comparisons of nuclear energy with other nuclear life cycle are the timeframes over which these potential energy sources. materials will need to be managed. Secure contain- The study examines waste generation, atmospheric ment will be required for not hundreds, but hundreds releases, impacts on water quality and water use, and of thousands of years – timeframes over which it is landscape and ecosystem impacts of nuclear energy extremely difficult, if not virtually impossible, to pre- production. It also examines the occupational and dict outcomes with any level of assurance. There are no community health impacts of nuclear power and approved long-term strategies for the management of key long-term challenges to its sustainability, includ- these wastes in place. The federally mandated Nuclear ing security and weapons proliferation risks. Specific Waste Management Organization expects it will take environmental impacts are examined in the context of over 300 years to implement its proposed “phased CANDU nuclear technology, the only reactor type cur- adaptive management” approach to containing waste rently in use in Canada.* nuclear fuel. As well, the effectiveness and adequacy of The study findings likely underestimate the over- tailings management facilities at mine sites in Canada all impacts of the use of nuclear energy for electricity has been subject to serious question. There is a long production in Canada. This is a result of significant history of uranium mine tailings management facility gaps in the publicly available information on releases failures in Canada and elsewhere in the world, result- of pollutants and contaminants, as well as on the fate ing in severe surface water and groundwater contami- of certain waste streams related to the nuclear indus- nation. try. In addition, the study relies on what are likely conservative estimates in a number of key areas, par- Is nuclear power sustainable? ticularly with respect to the generation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Nuclear energy is no more a renewable energy source than oil or gas. It relies on a finite and non-renew- Is nuclear power clean? able fuel supply – uranium. World uranium prices have increased more than sixfold since 2001. Current The study finds that nuclear power, like other non- Canadian uranium reserves are estimated to be suf- renewable energy sources, is associated with severe ficient for 40 years at current levels of consump- environmental impacts. Each stage of the nuclear tion (compared to estimated natural gas reserves of energy production process generates large amounts of uniquely difficult-to-manage wastes that will effec- *(Different types of reactors are associated with different impacts and risks. Light-water reactors, employing enriched tively require perpetual care, imposing costs and risks uranium fuel, for example, are associated with the generation of arising from current energy consumption onto future lower volumes of waste fuel. However, the process of producing generations. The process also has severe impacts on enriched uranium fuel for these types of reactors is associated surface water and groundwater water quality via a with much higher emissions of greenhouse gases, particularly range of radioactive and hazardous pollutants, and where gas diffusion based enrichment processes are employed, as well as higher atmospheric releases of uranium and the gen- results in releases to the atmosphere of a wide range eration of large volumes of depleted uranium (DU) wastes.) Nuclear Power in Canada: An Examination of Risks, Impacts and Sustainability • The Pembina Institute 3 Executive Summary approximately 70 years). The exploitation of lower- tion. Other recent estimates suggest total GHG emis- grade uranium deposits in the future would increase sions associated with nuclear power in Canada are in the already substantial emissions (including green- the range of at least 840,000 tonnes per year. house gas emissions) from uranium mining and mill- These figures relate to the CANDU-type reactors ing operations, as well as significantly expanding the used in Canada. The process of producing enriched enormous amounts of waste rock and tailings gener- uranium fuel for other types of reactors is associated ated by uranium mines and mills. with much higher emissions of greenhouse gases, par- ticularly where gas diffusion-based enrichment pro- Efforts to increase the available fuel supply through cesses are employed. the reprocessing of waste fuel or the use of fast breeder reactors are seen to present serious waste management,