Two newsletters in less than a week? Absurd! Apologies for flooding your inbox but I woke up this morning geared up to write an “I need your help” message about the proposed nuclear facility coming to Wesleyville, so here she be!
(No time to read? Here’s what you can do! Sign up for a public info session to show the government we care and we’re paying attention.)
Wesleyville, just west of Port Hope, is comprised of a tiny village and lots of farmland. It is also the proposed site of the world’s largest nuclear power facility. Both our federal and provincial governments are saying we need this mega nuclear plant to power 10 million new homes by 2050, but they are only projecting a population growth of 6 million people in that time frame (and presumably not all of those folks will live in homes all by themselves). They are also saying (quietly) that we need a lot more power for data centres. I’m able to put two and two together on this one, and I don’t love the idea of destroying the community I love to power AI.
Here are some of the reasons I am opposed to the Wesleyville nuclear site:
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Ignoring cleaner, cheaper, faster alternatives: The government did not study alternative power generation options before jumping to nuclear as their choice. They say wind and solar are unreliable, which simply means they’re not keeping up with the industry on the incredible strides that have been made in battery technology.
They also say solar and wind could not supply enough power, to which I ask, enough for what? If this plant can power 10 million homes but you’re only projecting an additional 3 million (if every new household has only 2 people in it, fewer homes if there are 3 or 4 people per home), those additional 7 million homes worth of power are for other uses the government is hoping we won’t notice. If we put the brakes on data centres, perhaps we only need half as much power as this plant is projected to create - would solar and wind be able to produce that? Hard to say, since the government won’t study those options.
Solar and wind power, with and without battery storage, are the cheapest power generation options currently available in Canada. (Source) Nuclear is very expensive and slow to build, and nuclear projects in Canada famously come in over budget and way past deadlines. Even if this project proceeds as projected it will be nearly twenty years before the facility comes online, so don’t let anyone tell you this is about responding to the imminent threat from south of the border.
Lack of community input: The creation of a 1,300 acre nuclear site in Northumberland County is going to fundamentally change everything about this place we live in and love. The influx of people and industry will make our community unrecognizable - and maybe that’s inevitable with population growth and development demands. However, we, the citizens of this community, should have a say in what that growth looks like. We should have a seat at the table, and so far that hasn’t been happening. Doug Ford’s McMansion developer buddies must be so excited.
Northumberland taxpayers will be footing the bill: Port Hope, the lower tier municipality that contains the Wesleyville site, has received millions of dollars in planning funding and is in line to receive many millions more. No other municipalities in the affected region have received any money, even though the government identifies Cobourg, Hamilton Township, and Northumberland County as affected. All the housing, roads, additional policing and fire, schools, hospitals that will be needed to support this massive influx of people and high-risk industry will be spread across the County…and not a cent has been given to anyone except Port Hope.
Luckily, some incredible community advocates have been pushing for more community engagement (because there was originally, ahem, none). We now have the opportunity to show up to a public information session and ask for answers from our various levels of government about a project that will fundamentally change Northumberland County, is more expensive than alternatives that are now extremely viable due to major developments in battery storage, and will take at least twenty years to be functional.
So here comes my impassioned plea: Please check out the dates of the various public input sessions and plan to attend one. The government needs to see that our community does care about this project and how it will impact us.
xo
Shannon
P.S. I have a new song coming out on Friday - woohoo! It is called Leave the Porchlight On, and, to my delight, it features four young SONG members on backing vocals. I will share the link in my next newsletter but I am going to refrain from sending that until next week so you don’t think I’ve lost my mind and decided to spam you three times a week. But on Friday you can stream or download the song all the online places - Bandcamp is preferred but any and all listens are so welcome.