Canadian site for international fusion project gathers momentum

New Darlington megaproject builds political support in shadow of Olympic glare

By: Suzanne Elston

CLARINGTON, ONTARIO: In recent weeks there has been a great deal of attention focused on Toronto's 2008 Olympic bid. Meanwhile, another major international bid was recently launched with very little fanfare.
  Billed as the Olympics of Science, the ITER Project is a $12 billion international fusion energy research and development centre. According to ITER's proponents, the goal is to develop fusion as a safe, clean sustainable source of energy. The project has been in development for several years and now ITER's partners ­ the European Union, Russia and Japan ­ are looking for a place to build the centre.
 

ITER may not produce high-level nuclear waste, but the facility will become radioactive with the host community - mine - responsible for de-commissioning after 20 years

  At the top of their list is a site adjacent to the Darlington Nuclear Generating Station here. The site is being favored because of a number of key factors critical to the experiment. Most important is the location of the Tritium Removal Facility (TRF) at the Darlington plant. Tritium, an accidental by-product of the CANDU nuclear reactor, is the primary breeder fuel for ITER. The TRF is the world's only major source of tritium.

Energy drain
  Another major factor is power. The ITER project is an experimental site, not a power plant. In fact, in will drain between 150 and 500 megawatts of electricity during test cycles. Situating the facility next to the Darlington plant will provide all the electricity it needs.
  Location is also a selling point for the Darlington site. It's close enough to Toronto's International Airport to make it accessible to the international team of scientists expected to frequent the place. But tucked nicely behind a man-made hill at the Darlington site, it won't even be immediately visible to passers-by on the 401 highway.
  Just about every level of government is lining up to say nice things about the ITER project. Jim Wilson, Ontario's Minister of Energy, Science and Technology, said, "The Ontario government recognizes the tremendous potential ITER has for developing new clean sources of energy. The technological spin-offs for a high technology jurisdiction such as Ontario would also be significant."
  Clarington's Mayor John Mutton agrees. "I anticipate many positive outcomes for our community in terms of construction jobs, research advancements in worldwide telecommunications and computer systems and the financial benefits of hosting such a facility," he said.
  Apparently, the facility will bring international scientists and lots of money and prestige to Canada. It will create thousands of short-term construction jobs during the eight years it will take to build ITER, and hundreds of technology jobs during its 20-year experimental cycle. Everybody thinks it's wonderful ­ except me.
  I must admit that I have an inherent prejudice against most things nuclear, which may be coloring my reaction to the whole thing. But, I can't help but think of the old saying, "if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." It's what isn't being said about ITER that concerns me.

What isn't being said
  For starters, ITER may not produce any high-level nuclear waste, but over time the facility itself will become radioactive. The host community (mine) will be responsible for de-commissioning and monitoring the site at the end of its 20-year experimental cycle. Between the low-level wastes at Port Hope and Port Granby, the high-level wastes at Darlington and the tritium stored at the TRF, Clarington already has more than enough waste to worry about. It seems terribly myopic to sacrifice more of our waterfront to yet another nuclear facility. The economic boom promised by ITER sounds wonderful, but most of the job creation will be for short-term construction. More importantly, what else could we do with that kind of money? After all, there is a finite amount of funding available for research. Investing in renewable, non-nuclear energy could ultimately eliminate the need for large central power generating facilities like ITER. And maybe that's the key point.
  Even ITER's most enthusiastic proponents say that commercially available fusion power is at least 50 years away. But we don't have 50 years. The biggest challenge that we face today isn't providing for our own energy needs. The demand for energy is growing exponentially in developing countries where the cheapest and most immediate source of power is dirty coal plants. Coal-fired generation is a primary source of acid rain and smog and a major contributor of carbon dioxide ­ the primary cause of global warming. The scientific community has pretty much agreed that global warming is the single greatest threat to our environmental stability.
  It is dangerously self-serving to ignore the very really threat of global warming and focus our science, our research dollars and our enthusiasm on something as nebulous as the ITER project ­ regardless of how many jobs it might bring to my community.

For more information about the Canada's ITER bid, go to www.ITERcanada.com.

Other articles from the series Down to earth

Posted: March 19, 2001

[ Front Page ]