Dr. Chris Keefer’s marketing campaign to save lots of Pickering Nuclear Producing Station from closing started distant from the concrete constructing that crouches on the sting of Lake Ontario, simply east of Toronto.
As a part of a worldwide push to get nuclear energy up the agenda, the emergency room doctor packed a set of home-designed flyers within the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic and headed into downtown Toronto to canvass help.
“We had conversations with some of the interesting cast of characters at Nathan Phillips Square,” Keefer advised Ontario Chronicle.
Subsequent, he graduated to holding pro-nuclear placards he’d made in his yard utilizing his son’s paint set outdoors Queen’s Park, the provincial legislature.
By early 2024, he was being name-dropped by the ministers of finance and power as they introduced what he’d referred to as for was occurring: the Ford authorities would work to increase the lifetime of Pickering Nuclear Energy Station — answerable for 14 per cent of the province’s electrical energy — for many years with a full refurbishment.
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Ontario to refurbish Pickering Nuclear Producing Station, anticipated to create 11K jobs per yr
The coverage appeared nearly inconceivable simply 4 years in the past, with plans lengthy in movement to shutter the plant.
“We bluffed and blustered the whole way along,” Keefer admitted.
A push from the Ford authorities to deal with industrial jobs, a surge in electrical demand and the sheer quantity of power the station produces conspired to set the once-dead coverage on the coronary heart of Ontario’s power plans.
On Jan. 30, the province confirmed it deliberate to maintain Pickering Nuclear Producing Station for many years to come back with a full refurbishment, to be accomplished by the mid-2030s.
The ability was initially attributable to be retired in 2020, a plan pushed again to 2024. The Progressive Conservatives shunted that date to 2026, earlier than committing to the refurbishment.
When the Progressive Conservatives ran for his or her first time period within the 2018 election, competing to interchange a long-time Liberal administration, power was a key subject on the poll.
The Liberals had been underneath stress for electrical energy prices within the province, with their critics framing Hydro One and its executives as the important thing motive for the excessive price of energy.
Then, when Doug Ford received his first time period, the newly-elected premier confronted an power controversy of his personal, scrapping contracts for renewable power at a price of round $231 million.
The hangover from that call nonetheless lingers, with inexperienced power proponents and opposition politicians satisfied the federal government was failing on the zero-emissions power file.
“The part that I find a little more frustrating is the conservative government has kind of bounced around on the energy file,” Ontario NDP MPP Jamie West advised Ontario Chronicle.
“Lots of noise right now about electric vehicles but when they first got elected they ripped out charging stations. There are other alternative energy sources that could help… the windmills and things like that, they cancelled those when they were first elected.”
Regardless of the criticism, authorities sources say they’ve felt the warmth of opposition turned down on the power file lately, with the refurbishment of Pickering Nuclear Producing Station assembly little vocal pushback at Queen’s Park, significantly in comparison with the amount of opposition to power choices in 2018 and 2019.
The province is loudly assured in its choice to increase the lifetime of Pickering Nuclear Producing Station, one which solely got here collectively previously couple of years and wasn’t on the agenda within the 2018 election and even because the 2020s dawned.
“It seemed like a slam dunk,” Power Minister Todd Smith advised Ontario Chronicle.
The Ford authorities discovered its voice on the electrical energy file in the summertime of 2022, with a slew of bulletins as a possible power disaster loomed.
By the summer time and fall of 2022, Smith darted across the province, unveiling one coverage after one other to cut back power consumption and to extend output. He introduced incentives to make houses extra environment friendly, flip down air con and new contracts for extra gasoline energy.
He additionally introduced within the fall of 2022 that he can be working to increase the lifetime of Pickering Nuclear Energy Station previous its authentic closure to 2026 and mentioned he would start probing if a refurbishment of the plant was potential.
Keefer mentioned that announcement got here after years of unsuccessful lobbying.
Even months earlier, when his nuclear advocacy group printed a report into the advantages of conserving Pickering open sooner or later, his approaches had fallen on deaf ears.
“We released a report in July of 2022,” he mentioned. “The response at that time from the ministry was, ‘No, not looking at it, not interested.’”
The decision to extend the power plant’s life got here as Ontario stared at an power cliff.
Refurbishments at different nuclear energy stations, mixed with a large spike in demand from the economic and electrical automobile sectors, meant Ontario was dealing with a niche in its power manufacturing and would wish to rely extra closely on pure gasoline to get it by way of.
The federal government insists it wasn’t caught off guard however that, after years of declining power demand, a renewed deal with industrial jobs was starting to repay.
“It wasn’t until the last couple of years, we actually started to see those manufacturing jobs coming back, and they’re coming back at a rapid rate,” Smith mentioned.
Ontario Power Minister Todd Smith addresses a information convention on the Pickering Nuclear Producing Station in Pickering, Ont. on Tuesday, Jan.30, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn.
The minister didn’t say precisely when he realized the once-doomed facility was going to be a central plank of his coverage.
“We started looking at all of the options that we had and ultimately we have an energy site in Pickering that’s producing a lot of megawatts of electricity,” Smith added.
“We had extended it or asked for it to be extended twice to meet the demand that we knew we were going to need up until late 2026.”
Communication paperwork beforehand obtained by Ontario Chronicle additionally present officers had been conscious that pronouncing adjustments extending the province’s nuclear fleet may assist increase its environmental credentials and soften the criticism of ramping up pure gasoline.
The paperwork present extending Pickering’s life was “one in a series of announcements” main as much as affirmation in October that Ontario would open new gasoline energy stations for the primary time in years.
“Announcements in the lead up to the (Independent Electricity Systems Operator) report would reinforce the message that the government is looking at all alternatives to emitting resources,” mentioned one doc.
The Pickering choice was designed to be “leveraged as part of a broader communications strategy” to enhance the notion of the federal government’s inexperienced credentials.
In its plans to refurbish the Pickering plant, the Ford authorities discovered a number of unlikely allies, from a health care provider to staff’ unions.
Dr. Keefer mentioned he got here to the belief he may hyperlink nuclear energy to the province’s highly effective labour motion as he stepped up his campaigns to maintain the ability plant open. These advocacy efforts have now taken him to Glasgow, Dubai and a variety of different local weather and nuclear conferences the place he has canvassed for help and new concepts.
He advised Ontario Chronicle his advocacy background is rooted within the labour motion, and he pushed to harness the well-paid union jobs related to Pickering to save lots of the plant.
“I’ve been a lifelong advocate,” he mentioned.
Authorities sources say it wasn’t essentially his advocacy that tipped the refurbishment choice, however having somebody who works as an emergency room doctor and never a nuclear energy lobbyist endorse their message made packaging the plan simpler.
They level to different nuclear refurbishments and small modular reactors as examples of nuclear coverage that predate the physician’s push.
Employees return to the plant after a information convention on the Pickering Nuclear Producing Station in Pickering, Ont., Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn.
When the refurbishment was introduced, it was additionally met with a glowing endorsement from the union representing staff on the plant, which is about to see 1000’s of jobs keep for future many years and 1000’s extra created through the refurbishment itself.
“Today’s announcement protects good union jobs, and will help our province produce low-cost, emissions-free power as we electrify our economy into the future,” Michelle Johnston, president of the Society of United Professionals, mentioned in January.
“We’re glad to see the government choosing to refurbish our CANDU reactors, which support a strong, unionized, made-in-Canada supply chain.”
West, the NDP’s labour critic, agreed the refurbishment is finally excellent news for a lot of locally.
“From a labour angle, we have some of the best energy workers in the world,” he mentioned.
“They’re employing tens of thousands of people, plus a lot of people are going to be employed during the refurbishment… these jobs going forward, they’re unionized jobs.”
Regardless of its unlikely supporters — and Smith’s evaluation of the challenge as a “slam dunk” — rebuilding the growing old nuclear facility to run for a number of extra many years will not be a choice that comes with out its critics.
The Ontario Inexperienced Occasion referred to as Pickering one of many “oldest, worst-performing” nuclear energy stations on the continent and questioned the choice to place extra money into the positioning.
“The best way to protect Ontario’s consumers, economy and climate is to invest in low-cost renewables and ambitious efficiency programs to help Ontarians save money by saving energy,” the celebration’s chief Mike Schreiner mentioned.
Though he has proven broad help for the plan, West additionally referred to as for additional transparency, significantly round how a lot the refurbishment will price the taxpayer.
“It’s not that I’m concerned that it’s a bad deal, it’s just that we have a conservative government that hasn’t been transparent about things in the past,” he mentioned. “I think the people of Ontario deserve to know what it’s going to cost us. What the feasibility case of doing this is.”
The Ontario Clear Air Alliance mentioned the extension was a “dubious” and “reckless” plan that received’t remedy the province’s short-term power crunch.
Smith, nevertheless, argued the refurbishment will basically rebuild the ability station, which he mentioned has a robust security report
“This facility is a safe facility, it’s proven to be a safe facility for 50 years,” he mentioned. “And part of the refurbishment process is going to completely rebuild this facility as well.”
The Canadian Nuclear Security Fee will nonetheless need to approve the refurbishment plan.
