While those who despise the nuclear industry strut around sounding its death knell, it is important not to overlook two facts regarding the recent internal Ontario Hydro review:

1) The review criticized the management of Ontario's nuclear system, not the technology itself. The report found the CANDU reactor to be a fundamentally sound product which has suffered from neglect at the hands of Ontario Hydro management.

2) The cost advantage of nuclear over fossil power in Ontario is made abundantly clear. Using the estimates given in the report, I estimate the extra cost of fossil power needed to replace the shortfall from the seven shutdown nuclear reactors as roughly $250,000 per reactor per day. Ontarians should note the fact that nuclear power saves them this much money on a daily basis.

I applaud this bold attempt by Ontario Hydro to deal with its serious internal problems. However, beurocratic bungling aside, none of these revelations affects CANDU's status as one of the world's leading reactor technologies, and nuclear power in genera l as a safe, clean, and economic alternative for electricity generation.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Whitlock