Petition to the Government of Canada
Whereas:
- Canada is a party to the Paris Agreement whose goal is to keep global average temperature below 2°C and has agreed to reduce GHG emissions by 30% below 2005 levels by 2030;
- The IPCC in its four decarbonization pathways calls for an increase in nuclear power by 98-501% to meet our climate goals and avoid catastrophic climate impacts;
- Nuclear Energy in Canada has provided the ultra low emissions energy needed to permanently replace fossil generation as in Ontario where the restart of 6 CANDU reactors provided 90% of the power needed to permanently remove coal from the grid;
- Nuclear Energy is the most environmentally friendly form of energy generation due to the energy density of its uranium fuel which contains a million times more energy than its fossil fuel counterparts and as a result requires only a tiny fraction of the mining, processing and infrastructure compared to every other source of energy including renewables;
- Uranium mining in Canada conforms to the highest environmental and health and safety standards in the world;
- Nuclear is the only form of energy that fully accounts for and contains its waste and that all of the spent nuclear fuel produced in Canada would fit inside 1 hockey rink piled 28 feet or less than 1 telephone pole high;
- Nuclear Energy in Canada plays a vital role in combating the COVID pandemic by producing the majority of the world’s Cobalt-60 which is used to sterilize 40% of the worlds single-use medical devices including PPE like masks and gloves;
- Nuclear Energy in Canada provides high paying jobs in science, technology, engineering and the skilled trades to over 60,000 Canadians with a supply chain that is 95% made in Canada;
We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:
1. Uphold its commitments as a signatory to the Paris Agreement by maintaining and expanding its CANDU nuclear reactor fleet; and
2. Support the export of CANDU technology to aid our allies in their decarbonisation efforts; and
3. Continue to fund research and deployment of small modular nuclear reactors in Canada and abroad.
