Nuclear is part of the solution

Figure 1: Annual production of greenhouse gases in Ontario, from electrical generation. Also, the annual gross production of electricity from Ontario reactors.

When the Darlington nuclear power plants were started at the beginning of the 1990s, the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) in Ontario, from electricity production, decreased significantly (Figure 1). On the other hand, when several nuclear power plants were laid up in 1997-1998, the GHG emission increased significantly. Figure 1 shows that the start of new nuclear power plants contributes directly to GHG reduction, while shutting nuclear power plants produces the inverse. Between 1994 and 2002, 86% of the increase in annual GHG emission (21600 kilotonnes of CO2 equivalent out of 25000) was caused by shutting 7 nuclear power plants in Ontario (Figure 2).

Figure 2: The change in annual production of greenhouse gases in Ontario, from electrical generation, from 1994 to 2002.