Where do Ford and Del Duca stand on creating 16,000 jobs in Pickering?
By Angela Bischoff, Director, Ontario Clean Air Alliance
We asked the leaders of Ontario’s provincial parties if Ontario Power Generation (OPG) should create 16,000 person-years of employment at its Pickering Nuclear Generating Station site by immediately dismantling the station after it is shut down.
Andrea Horwath (NDP) and Mike Schreiner (Green Party) both said “yes.”
According to Andrea Horwath, the “NDP supports the preferred decommissioning strategy of the International Atomic Energy Agency and the City of Pickering.”
According to Mike Schreiner, “Decommissioning and dismantling [the Pickering Station] could create 32,000 person-years of direct and indirect employment.”
To see their complete responses please click here.
Doug Ford (PC Party) and Steven Del Duca (Liberal Party) have not yet responded to our question.
Background Information
The Pickering Nuclear Station’s operating licence expires on Dec. 31, 2024, at which point the station will be 53 years old.
Instead of waiting 30 years to begin the process of dismantling the station as Ontario Power Generation would prefer to do, we can ensure that the existing Pickering Nuclear Station workers, who know this one-of-a-kind station best, are involved in its dismantling by starting the process as soon as the plant is shutdown. This would create 16,000 person-years of employment in the first decade after shutdown.
Immediate dismantling will also permit most of the plant’s 600-acre prime waterfront site to be returned to the local community by 2035 for parkland, recreation facilities, entertainment, housing and other employment uses.
OPG already has more than enough money in its nuclear decommissioning fund ($8.6 billion) to pay for the immediate dismantling of the station.
In Jan. 2020, Pickering City Council unanimously passed a resolution calling for the Pickering Nuclear Station to be dismantled as “expeditiously as possible” after it is shut down.
The International Atomic Energy Agency states that immediate dismantling is “the preferred decommissioning strategy” for nuclear plants.
While delaying its dismantling costs for 30 years is in OPG’s financial self-interest, it is not in the best interests of its workers, the City of Pickering or Ontario’s economy.
What you can do
Please ask Doug Ford, Steven Del Duca and your local candidates if they support creating 16,000 jobs on the Pickering Nuclear Station site when the plant comes to the end of its life.
Thank you for making the time!
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