Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility

Canada has an active anti-nuclear movement, which includes major campaigning organisations like Greenpeace and the Sierra Club. Over 300 public interest groups across Canada have endorsed the mandate of the Campaign for Nuclear Phaseout (CNP). Some environmental organisations such as Energy Probe, the Pembina Institute and the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility (CCNR) are reported to have developed considerable expertise on nuclear power and energy issues. There is also a long-standing tradition of indigenous opposition to uranium mining.

According to a 2006 opinion poll commissioned by the BBC, 91 per cent of Canadians surveyed were “concerned” or "very concerned" that “the way the world produces and uses energy is causing environmental problems, including climate change” and 85 per cent were concerned (or very concerned) “that energy shortages and prices will destabilize the world economy”. In terms of available energy options which may help to address these problems:

...91% (of which 66% strongly) were in favour of “creating tax incentives to encourage the development and use of alternative energy sources, such as solar or wind power”. Asked whether “building new nuclear power plants, to reduce reliance on oil and coal” would be a good idea, 52% agreed (of which 22% strongly) while 43% disagreed (of which 25% strongly).

International nuclear policy consultant Mycle Schneider has reported that, as of June 2007, the overall lifetime load factor of the 22 Canadian nuclear reactors was 68.5%, which is quite a poor performance by global standards. The CANDU reactors have "experienced a large number of technical problems, several of which had significant safety relevance".

Canada is the world's second largest producer of uranium(Kazakhstan is the largest producer, Canada was until 2008) and has therefore accumulated very large amounts of mine waste. This waste amounts to "several hundred million tonnes and about 400 million cubic meters of contaminated process water".

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Wikipedia