2002 December 10
To the Editor,
The Ottawa Citizen
The anti-nuclear activist group Energy Probe thinks we should be scared that the prospective owners of the Bruce nuclear plant have “no experience or knowledge about how to run nuclear plants” (“Cold snap brings risk of blackouts…”, December 10, by Paul McKay).
I do not understand this pre-occupation with the operational experience of Bruce Power’s shareholders, when they have nothing to do with the operation of the plant. Bruce Power is the operator and licensee, with over 25 years of nuclear operations experience built into its workforce and management (these are largely the same people who have run the Bruce plant under OPG, and formerly Ontario Hydro, for that long).
Should we question the nuclear operations experience of successive Ontario governments, since they are effectively in the same ownership position over OPG’s reactors? How about a CEO’s understanding of natural-gas technology when he/she wishes to install a cogeneration unit?
Let’s leave operations to the operators, and regulation to the regulators. Comments from special-interest groups with no experience or knowledge in reactor safety should be treated with appropriate scepticism.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Whitlock
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