Canada Signs Bush Nuke Plan, Hidden Agenda Glowing in the Dark

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, I can hardly keep from poundin' my fingers through the keyboard. I'm pissed off. Dang pissed off. This morning, I learned that our country has signed on to the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). If you never heard of it, I ain't surprised. Whenever anybody's asked about it, the HarpoonTossers clammed up. Just this September at the APEC Summint, they was asked and they wouldn't even say if they were sending a representative to a Vienna GNEP meeting.

Now, they've announced that we're part of Bush's nuclear energy policy. They say it's a done deal.

There was no parliamentary debate. There was no public consultation. There was no public information campaign.

Major international energy agreements that encompass all aspects of a dangerous and controversial technology cannot appear out of thin air. Canada's involvement is now a fact. Canada's involvement up til now has been shrouded in secrecy.

So, yer askin', what's wrong with GNEP?

Since the 1970's, Canada has had a moritorium on the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. This is because reprocessing spent nuclear fuel creates an unacceptable security risk. The reprocessed fuel can be fashioned into a nuclear weapon. I ain't talkin' about just a dirty bomb. I'm talkin' about an A-bomb. GNEP fosters reprocessing.

Canada is the world's largest producer of uranium. GNEP requires uranium producers to repatriate spent nuclear fuel. Canada will become the world's largest nuclear waste dump.

GNEP may be the first step towards Canada dismantling AECL, the crown corporation responsible for the development and sale of CANDU reactors. Avro Arrow, anyone?

A hat tip to Politics'n'Poetry and Accidental Deliberations.

Chewin' nails an' fartin' tacks,

JimBobby