Report of the
Standing Senate
Committee on Energy, the
Environment and Natural Resources
on its
FACT-FINDING MISSION TO
PARIS AND VIENNA
September 5 – 10,
2005
MEMBERS PARTICIPATING IN FACT-FINDING MISSION
TO PARIS AND VIENNA
SEPTEMBER 5 – 10, 2005
The Hon.
Tommy Banks – Chair
The Hon.
Ethel M. Cochrane – Deputy-Chair
The Hon.
Willie Adams
The Hon.
David Angus
The Hon.
John Buchanan, P.C.
The Hon.
Ione Christensen
The Hon.
Colin Kenny
The Hon.
Mira Spivak
Staff of the Committee:
Ms. Lynne C. Myers, Research Analyst, Science and Technology
Division, Parliamentary Information and Research Service, Library of
Parliament;
Mr. Gérald Lafrenière, Clerk of the Committee, Committees
Directorate, The Senate.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES OF FACT-FINDING MISSION
Obtain
an Update on the International Aspects of Nuclear Reactor Safety
Discuss
Canada’s Environmental Performance as Assessed by the OECD
Discuss
Current Global Issues Related to Energy Supply and Demand
Discuss
Issues Related to the World Oil Situation
FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS
National
Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Agence
nationale pour la gestion des déchets radioactifs – ANDRA)
Nuclear
Energy Agency (NEA)
International
Energy Agency (IEA)
Economics
Directorate, Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD)
Environment
Directorate, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
United
Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR)
Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
CONCLUSION
APPENDIX A
REPORT
OF THE COMMITTEE’S FACT-FINDING MISSION
TO
PARIS AND VIENNA
SEPTEMBER
5 -10, 2005
INTRODUCTION
The Committee’s Fact-Finding Mission to Paris
and Vienna had four distinct objectives, each of
which was met during the course of the meetings in Europe. This report briefly outlines those objectives
and reports on the principal findings and observations of Committee members.
OBJECTIVES OF FACT-FINDING MISSION
1. Obtain an Update on the International Aspects of Nuclear Reactor
Safety
- In June 2001
the Committee tabled its interim report on nuclear safety entitled Canada’s Nuclear Reactors: How Much Safety Is
Enough? This was followed in
June 2002 with the tabling of a final report entitled The International Aspects of Nuclear
Reactor Safety.
- Much of the
information for this phase of the Committee’s study was obtained during
meetings in
Paris and
Vienna, in 2001, with representatives of
the major international organizations involved in the industry.
- The 2005 visit
allowed the Committee to follow up on its previous study by meeting again
with these representatives to discuss issues of mutual interest,
including:
- International
measures in place to assure the safe operation of nuclear reactors;
- The growing
need for international nuclear power safety standards; and
- Nuclear law
and liability regimes.
-
Since 2001, the Committee has also dealt with legislation creating
the Nuclear Waste Management Organization in this country. Consequently,
the approach of various countries to managing high-level radioactive waste
was also discussed during meetings in
Europe.
2. Discuss Canada’s Environmental Performance as Assessed by the OECD
- In 2004, the
OECD carried out a detailed review of Canada’s environmental
performance.
- The subsequent
report issued by the OECD was critical of some aspects of
Canada’s
performance.
- Committee
members met with the authors of that report and discussed the implications
of its findings, in light of the Committee’s broad mandate on
environmental issues.
3. Discuss Current Global Issues Related to Energy Supply and Demand
·
The OECD’s International Energy Agency is one
of the premier organizations in the world in the analysis of global energy
issues and trends. They publish an
annual report entitled World Energy
Outlook.
·
Committee members were able to hear from
leading experts on a wide range of issues, including global oil supply and
demand, the developing world trade in natural gas, the future of nuclear power
in a carbon-constrained world, and the potential for renewable energy sources
to make a greater contribution to the world’s energy mix in coming years.
4. Discuss Issues Related to the World Oil Situation
- During its
2001 visit to Europe, Committee members
held highly informative talks with leading figures from the Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
- The Committee
was invited to return in the future for further discussions. This visit allowed Senators to be
updated on the international oil situation from the point of view of OPEC,
whose member countries are responsible for about 40% of world oil
production.
FINDINGS AND OBSERVATIONS
National
Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Agence nationale pour la gestion des déchets
radioactifs – ANDRA)
- France has 58 nuclear
power plants in operation and another ten that have been shut down and/or
are being decommissioned, and so have a great deal of experience dealing
with radioactive waste (or “recoverable material” as they prefer to call
the spent reactor fuel).
- Like
Canada,
France is still looking for a
solution to the question of the disposal and/or storage of spent nuclear
fuel (high-level radioactive waste).
Representatives of ANDRA discussed how
France is addressing the
problem and how it is dealing with the other levels of radioactive waste.
- ANDRA, a state owned
corporation, was created by an
Act of
Parliament in 1991 in response to public opposition
over the proposed siting of an R&D facility to study radioactive waste
management.
- The legislation gave
ANDRA a number of mandates. Like
Canada’s
Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), the agency was mandated to find
technical solutions to the management of high-level and long-lived,
intermediate-level radioactive waste and to make recommendations to
Parliament.
- Unlike
Canada’s
NWMO, ANDRA was given a 15 year deadline for this task.
- Among the options being
researched are deep geological disposal, partitioning and transmutation (using
nuclear reactors, particle accelerators or other new technology to
transform long-lived radioactive waste into stable or short-lived
isotopes, reducing the volume of waste needing confinement over very long
periods of time) and conditioning and long-term near-surface storage.
- As a result of the
legislated deadline, some time in 2006, a report will be made to the French
Parliament recommending a way forward, and Parliament will make the final
decision on how the country will handle the high-level radioactive
material (spent reactor fuel).
- In addition to this important mandate, ANDRA also
manages, operates and monitors all existing low and intermediate-level
radioactive waste disposal centres, and it designs and builds new centres
for waste that cannot be handled by existing facilities. ANDRA offers this
service on a commercial basis.
- Since 2003, ANDRA has operated a disposal
facility dedicated to very low-level wastes. In most other countries this material
would be sent to landfill sites, but the government wants to build public
confidence in nuclear power and so deals with all of the radioactive
waste, no matter how low the level of contamination.
- Another ANDRA facility, its low to intermediate-level
waste disposal site, Centre de la Marche, is the first in the world to
make the transition from a storage site to a closed disposal site. It is now in the monitoring phase and
nuclear electricity producers pay ANDRA about 3 million Euros (Can$4.3
million) annually to do the monitoring.
- The big question in France now is how long this
monitoring will be have to be carried out and how much it will cost. This will become increasingly important
as the government moves towards its stated objective of, at least
partially, privatizing Électricité de France (the largest publicly owned
utility in the western world). The
question will have to be answered if private sector investors are to be
attracted to the nuclear power business.
-
France has a strict policy of
not importing radioactive waste. It
does import high-level waste from other countries, reprocesses it and then
sends the reprocessed material and all of the waste generated in the procedure
back to the country of origin.
Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)
- The Committee was briefed on the history, mandate
and operation of the Nuclear Energy Agency, and engaged in discussions on
issues related to nuclear safety, waste management and nuclear liability
insurance.
- The NEA was founded in 1958 as a semiautonomous
agency within the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development). The Agency has a
staff of 80 persons and an annual budget of 12 million Euros
(approximately Can$17 million). Its
original membership was largely European, with Canada,
Japan and the United States
becoming members in the 1970s.
- In the words of its Executive Director, the
mission of the NEA is “to assist member countries in maintaining and
further developing, through international cooperation, the scientific,
technological and legal bases for the safe, environmentally friendly, and
economical use of nuclear energy.” It
is, in effect, a nuclear think-tank that brings international experts
together to share information, to study issues of mutual concern and make
non-binding recommendations.
- In recent years, the NEA has been doing more
outreach work involving non-member states in Eastern
Europe, to pass on best-practices, in order to enhance the
safe use of nuclear power in those countries. The accident at Chernobyl demonstrated clearly that
safety of nuclear facilities is an international, and not just a national,
concern. The NEA is working
intensively at developing a closer technical relationship with both Russia and China.
- The NEA representatives acknowledged the importance
of continuing to improve their working relationship with industry (and not
just with governments) since many countries are moving to privatize parts
of the nuclear power industry. It
is important to pass on the “safety culture” to the industrial setting.
- Unlike the IAEA (International Atomic Energy
Agency), the NEA does not deal with non-proliferation issues. The NEA sees itself as, therefore, much
less political than the IAEA. Because
its members represent the most advanced western nations, the NEA can look
at the latest developments in areas such as safety, waste management and
legal frameworks, and make recommendations.
- The IAEA, with its broader membership, can then
pass this information on to a much wider audience, including less
developed countries that are developing, or want to develop, their nuclear
power capabilities.
- NEA representatives provided two examples of how
this transfer works. Following the Three Mile Island
incident, the NEA was quickly able to develop a system for countries to
exchange information about “operating events.” Once up and running, the system was
transferred to the IAEA. Similarly,
following Chernobyl,
the NEA developed a scale or rating system to inform the public about the
seriousness of individual “events.”
Again, once the system was running, it was transferred to the IAEA,
which continues to operate it.
- Given past reports by the Committee, one of the
issues of greatest interest was the NEA view on Canada’s lack of progress on
amending the Nuclear Liability Act. In its 2000 report, Nuclear Safety: How Much Safety Is Enough? The Committee had said
that the Can$75 million liability insurance that Canadian nuclear
operators are required to carry was “woefully inadequate” and urged the
federal government to take quick action to increase the coverage to at
least Can$600 million, to bring us in line with international norms.
- The Head of the NEA’s Legal Affairs Division, who
happens to be a Canadian, agreed wholeheartedly with the Committee’s
comments. She further commented
that since our report was issued, the NEA had been working with Canadian
officials to help with proposed amending legislation. These officials were observers at the
extensive discussions that went in to the updating of the two
international agreements (the Paris and Vienna Conventions) that govern
liability coverage in most European countries. The negotiations resulted in significant
increases in the required coverage, leaving Canada even further
behind. The Committee will be
reporting separately on this embarrassing situation.
- With respect to safety and regulation, the
Committee discussed the key work of the NEA in sharing safety information
to identify generic safety issues that may have to be addressed.
- One of the issues that has come to the fore in
recent years is the growing difficulty that OECD countries are having in
maintaining adequate numbers of qualified personnel and equipment suppliers,
given the very low level of new construction in the nuclear power sector
in the last 15 to 20 years. Both in
Europe and in the United
States, governments have taken a
variety of actions (scholarships, etc.) to attract more graduate students
into the industry. Efforts seem to
have worked. As an example, the
number of graduate students in nuclear engineering in the U.S. rose
from just 500 in 1998 to 1500 in 2004.
Similar results have been seen in Europe,
and the NEA feels that as nuclear power enjoys a resurgence in popularity
(as a means to fight global warming), the trend will continue.
- Other safety issues that the NEA is monitoring
include the potential impacts on safety of electric utility privatization. Will the effort to be economically
competitive - by cutting staff, contracting out maintenance, or extending
the operating life of nuclear plants - have a negative impact on safety?
- Safety issues related to decommissioning are also
a growing concern as the first generation of the world’s nuclear reactors
are reaching the end of their operating lives.
- It was noted that, for the first time in many
years, countries are starting to talk about building new nuclear power
plants, in part to address the threat of global climate change. New reactor designs and new related
technologies will have to be assessed for the novel safety issues they may
present. In fact, more efficient Generation III reactors are already available
and Finland, France and Japan are either constructing
or planning to soon construct such reactors.
- Committee members discussed the progress that is
being made internationally in developing Generation IV reactors. This next generation will be designed
to introduce, among other advantages, inherent safety features, and
closed-cycle operation, which will produce less high-level wastes and
extract much more energy from each kilogram of fuel.
- Because of the high cost of development, the
international community is, for the first time, engaged in a joint
research and development effort.
Six designs have been chosen for further evaluation, and this will
eventually be narrowed to two or three.
Canada
is involved in this effort, which has a deadline of 2030 to have
Generation IV reactors ready for deployment. The date was set far enough in the
future so as not to compete with Generation III reactors, nor discourage
their use.
- With respect to the regulation of nuclear power,
the NEA is working closely with member countries to help ensure that the
regulator has the trust of the public.
This is essential, if nuclear power is to continue, or even expand,
its role in the energy mix of OECD countries. Canada is actively involved in
this effort. Representatives
mentioned an important NEA conference on the topic which was held recently
in Ottawa
(Building, Measuring and Improving Public
Confidence in the Nuclear Regulator).
- The management of high-level radioactive waste
was a topic for discussion with the NEA.
It is becoming increasingly important for countries that use
nuclear power to find a “solution” to this problem if the public is to
accept the continuation and even expansion of nuclear power use in the
coming years.
- Despite the fact that 17 of the 28 OECD countries
use nuclear energy, not one has an operational repository for high-level
waste. A great deal of research and
effort has been put into finding technological solutions, and deep
geological disposal is viewed as the leading prospect for a viable
long-term solution. Scientists have
a great deal of confidence in the technologies that have been developed,
but the public at large has yet to be convinced.
- A number of countries such as Canada, France,
and the United States
have processes in place that should see decisions made in the near future and
action begun to site a repository.
The NEA has carried out peer reviews on several proposed national
waste management programs including the U.S.A.,
Switzerland and France
(under way).
International Energy Agency (IEA)
- The Committee met with senior
representatives of the IAE, including the Executive Director, Mr. Claude
Mandil. He reviewed for the
Committee the origins of the IEA as a reaction to the oil crises of the
1970s. The main goal of the IEA at
that time was to establish a means of avoiding the negative economic
impact of any future oil price shocks or major supply disruptions.
- To meet that goal, each member country
that is a net oil importer agreed to maintain domestic oil stocks
equivalent to 90 days worth of net imports. These strategic petroleum reserves were
to be used in a co-coordinated way when certain criteria were met. Since its inception, this emergency
response has only been triggered twice.
The first time was in response to the Iran-Iraq war, and the second
time was in response to the damage caused to U.S. oil facilities by
hurricane Katrina, just days before the Committee’s visit.
- In recent years, both India and China, although not IEA
members, have established strategic petroleum reserves and agreed to
coordinate their use with the IEA.
- In addition to its emergency preparedness
role, the IEA acts as a think tank to help its members develop policies
that stand on three pillars: the security of energy supplies, economic
growth and environmental protection.
- In the view of the IEA, climate change
will have a greater impact on energy policies than any other factor (even
supply), in the next decade or more.
The IEA will help countries share best practices and experiences in
addressing this challenge.
- The Committee heard that, in more recent
years, the IEA has begun to work with non-member countries and organizations
to address global energy issues.
Perhaps most surprisingly is the increasing cooperation with OPEC
in addressing short term oil supply issues. For example, at the beginning of the war
in Iraq,
the IEA faced the prospect of having to trigger its emergency response
(release of oil from strategic reserves).
This became unnecessary, however, when OPEC agreed to increase
production to cover any anticipated supply shortfall.
- The IEA is now also working with
non-member countries such as China,
India and Russia to
help them improve their energy policies.
In the future, they would like to extend this outreach to include
Latin America and Africa.
- The Committee was presented with a rather
chilling assessment of the economic and geopolitical implications of
continuing current energy policies unchanged. On the demand side, oil security will
become more of an issue. In the
past, oil was widely used for power generation and for heating. This has changed. It is now the transportation sector that
is experiencing the greatest demand growth. Unlike the power generation and heating
sectors, there is no possibility of rapid fuel switching in the event of
supply (or price) disruptions. Such
events would have devastating economic consequences.
- The Committee was told that, with respect
to world oil supply, virtually all of the growth in supply between now and
2010 will come from the politically unstable Middle East (Iran, Iraq,
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates). Supply will be determined more by national
self-interest than by supply/demand fundamentals, allowing countries to
manipulate the supply to increase prices.
- Under a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario
for world energy use, huge environmental challenges will continue. For example, without changes, carbon
dioxide emissions will increase by 60%.
Much of the growth in emissions will come from the power generation
sector, as India and China
continue to industrialize, using their huge deposits of low quality
coal.
- In discussions about the importance of
including China (and other rapidly developing countries) in international
efforts to reduce GHG emissions, it was pointed out that China’s power
plant capacity grows every year by an amount equal to the total capacity
of the United Kingdom.
- One possible way to bring China (and
other developing countries) into the post-Kyoto climate change efforts was
suggested. The so-called “carrot
and no stick” approach would allow China to set its own target
for reducing GHG emissions. If they
do not make the target, there is no penalty, but if they exceed the
target, they can sell the extra emission credits on the international
market.
- The IEA prepares annual Country Studies
that provide details of member state’s energy policies and make
recommendations for improving those policies. In its 2004 Canada Country Study, the
agency recommended that the federal government make greater use of its
powers in the environmental field to make progress towards meeting our Kyoto target. It also noted, as did the Committee in a
number of its reports, that, while Canada has a good plan for reaching its
target, it has to get on with implementing the necessary measures.
- There was some discussion of the
advisability of the federal policy to cap the cost of carbon emission
credits for large industrial emitters at $15 per tonne. This policy would seem to remove the
incentive for some industries to take action. It means, in effect, that the Canadian
taxpayer, and not the industries involved, would bear the cost of not
meeting the Kyoto
target.
- Other aspects of the Canada Country Study
discussed with the report’s IEA authors included: the need to improve
reliability of the international and interregional electricity power grid;
the need to promote the refurbishment of existing nuclear power plants to
meet near-term demand; the
recommendation to look at opening areas now under moratoria to oil
and gas exploration; the need to streamline oil and gas pipeline approval
processes; and the importance of increasing production from the oil sands.
- Committee members discussed the importance
of improved energy efficiency in a carbon-constrained world. Efficiency improvements can bring almost
immediate reductions in GHG emissions, while saving money from reduced
energy costs. IEA maintains an extensive,
searchable, energy efficiency database (available at
www.iea.org/testbase/pamsdb/search.aspx?mode=cc). The database allows member countries to
learn from the experience of others and stay up to date with the latest
technologies and policies.
Economics Directorate, Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD)
- Committee members met with the head of the
OECD’s Economics Division to discuss sustainable development – the topic
of recent reports by both the Directorate and the Committee. Sustainable development has moved from
being an academic issue to a policy-making tool.
- The Directorate’s report looked at how
each OECD country was addressing the issue of sustainable development and
how well they were doing at integrating it into policy-making. They were struck by the common issues
faced by all countries and concluded that, while progress is being made,
much remains to be done.
- It was noted that economic instruments
need to be much better utilized since they are highly efficient in helping
meet environmental goals.
- Discussions focused on the Directorate’s
specific recommendations for Canada. Canada was urged to make
greater use of more efficient economic instruments. For example, it was suggested that a
wider geographic area needs to be included in cap-and-trade programs. Right now the focus of such programs is
provincial. The geographic extent
should not be political, but rather based on the reach of the pollutant.
Climate change is global, so we need a global cap. Regional air pollution needs a regional
cap.
- Canada’s decision to guarantee
large final emitters that they would have to pay no more than $15 per
tonne of CO2 was questioned, especially in light of the European
experience to date that has seen carbon permits costing more than was
originally forecast. The Canadian
taxpayer could be left paying for industry’s failure to reach its targets.
- Canada is also urged to make
more use of incentives and rely less on command-and-control regulatory
measures, since the latter prevent business from reducing pollution in the
most efficient way. Canada’s
tendency to rely on voluntary measures was also described as
“inefficient”. Industries tend to
only “volunteer” to make reductions they would have made anyway, so no
real progress is made.
- The role of subsidies in encouraging the
development of renewable energy sources was also discussed. It was pointed out that European success
with increasing the installation of wind power capacity has relied heavily
on generous subsidies. The
subsidies may not be the most efficient way to go, but, as with any new
energy source, they may well be justified to move the technology into the
marketplace.
Environment Directorate, Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD)
- This Directorate, despite its name,
focuses on the economics of environmental protection, and not on the
science. They attempt to help
member countries deal with environmental “externalities.” They would like to move countries toward
including these externalities in assessments of the costs and benefits of
policy options. Norway and Sweden were held up as
examples of countries that are making progress in this direction,
particularly through the use of green taxes.
- Representatives told the Committee that
their next report on the global Environmental Outlook, due to be released
in 2007, will include detailed analysis of the environmental impact of
various policy options. Unlike
previous Outlook reports, it will include an assessment of the costs of
inaction on environmental problems, especially climate change. This analysis is intended to provide
“ammunition” for Ministers of Environment when they go to Cabinet to seek
funding for environmental programs.
- The representatives also outlined the main
focus of their current efforts. For
example, they described the MAD Program (Mutual Acceptance of Data), which
is aimed at having OECD countries accept each others’ assessments of the
health and environmental impacts of chemicals. A new and growing area of study for the
Directorate is the impact of environmental contaminants on children.
- The Committee heard that the OECD is
developing new strategies to continuously monitor how well countries are
doing at meeting their environmental targets. Some of this work is already being used
in the Country Studies, such as the one that recently (2004) assessed Canada’s
environmental performance. Many of
the conclusions and comments were the same as those discussed with the
Economics Directorate: make better use of economic instruments; rely less
on voluntary measures; identify and remove environmentally harmful
subsidies; move on from policy statement to policy action (i.e. on climate
change); improve compliance and enforcement of environmental laws.
- Since 1998, the Environment Directorate
has been trying to get the OECD more involved in integrating sustainable
development into the mainstream of the policy-making process. As the Committee heard, however, this has
been a hard sell within the OECD.
The Economics Directorate “is not very interested” and work
continues to bring them together with the Environment, Transportation and
Agriculture Directorates to work together.
Sustainable development will only become a reality if all sectors
become involved.
- More recently, directorates dealing with
Labour and with Social Affairs have become interested, and the Sustainable
Development Manager, with whom the Committee met, is hopeful that the next
steps will be to more fully involve Finance and Foreign Aid officials in
measuring their policies against the sustainable development yard stick.
- Canada got bad marks for the
fact that it is one of only five OECD countries that does not yet have a
National Sustainable Development Strategy in place. Committee members pointed out that the
Committee had recommended such action in its 2005 report on sustainable
development.
- On the other hand, Canada gets full marks
for the fact that it is one of only three OECD countries that has a
Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Development. New
Zealand and the U.K. have similar offices.
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
- Committee members received an update on developments
in international nuclear safety and security that have taken place since
the Committee issued its reports on these issues in 2000 and 2001.
- Many of the same messages that the
Committee heard from the Nuclear Energy Agency and the International
Energy Agency in Paris concerning renewed global interest in nuclear power
in light of the need to address climate change, and fears about energy
security and diversity were repeated at the IAEA.
- The IAEA representatives noted that the
Agency has three main roles. It
helps develop and spread new nuclear technology; it studies and helps both
member and non-member countries address issues of nuclear safety and
security; and it acts as the nuclear watchdog, through its monitoring and
verification programs.
- With respect to nuclear safety, the IAEA has
numerous committees to which member countries contribute experts. Canada is heavily involved,
with representatives on all of the IAEA nuclear safety committees. In fact, a Canadian (Linda Keen, Head,
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission) acted as Chairman of the 3rd
Review Meeting on the Convention on Nuclear Safety in April 2005.
- According to officials, since the Chernobyl accident,
there has been much greater international cooperation on safety
issues. Safety and security of
nuclear reactors used to be seen as a strictly national issue. Chernobyl
clearly demonstrated that it is, indeed, an international issue.
- As one official put it, if there is ever
another Chernobyl,
it would be the end of civilian nuclear power around the world. Consequently, the IAEA is working hard to
ensure that lessons learned from past major incidents are not lost. They help all countries that have
nuclear power stations to implement IAEA-recommended safety standards.
- As an example, many of the countries of
the former Soviet Union are now involved
with the IAEA and are using the Agency’s expertise to establish effective
regulatory regimes and implement up-to-date safety procedures. The IAEA continues to monitor the
progress that each country is making, and so keeps international pressure
on them to meet the expected standards for safety.
- The level of international cooperation is
reflected in the fact that there are now five international nuclear safety
conventions. Some of them are new,
but others, such as the International Convention on the Physical
Protection of Nuclear Material, have simply been strengthened. This convention, for example, used to
cover only the protection of nuclear material while in temporary storage
and/or transport within any one country.
It now also applies to the international movement of nuclear
material.
- Another new focus of the IAEA is on the
safety and security of research reactors.
Past safety-related efforts were directed primarily at nuclear
power generation facilities.
However, concern has increased in recent years over the potential
for diversion of small amounts of nuclear material from research reactors,
by terrorist groups, to make “dirty bombs.” To prevent such incidents, the IAEA has
developed safety standards for research reactors and is actively pushing
countries to adopt these new standards.
- Another emerging safety issue that the
IAEA is watching, and working on, is the impact of reactor aging on safety. Many of the world’s first commercial
nuclear reactors are reaching the end of their anticipated operational
lives, but refurbishment is keeping some of them going longer than
expected. Others are being
decommissioned, which presents a different set of safety concerns.
- The IAEA is also monitoring and making
recommendations on how to address the loss of qualified personnel from the
nuclear industry, as well as the safety implications of privatization in
the nuclear power generation sector.
- Since the terrorist attacks of September
11, the security of nuclear power plants has been cause for increased concern
around the world. The IAEA is
establishing guidelines for countries to follow in the areas of
prevention, detection and response.
Country studies help to identify any areas of particular
vulnerability and the IAEA experts do follow-up reports, again to
encourage continual improvement.
- Since 2002, the IAEA has maintained a
Nuclear Security Fund to assist countries of the former Soviet Union
improve their security measures with regard to all nuclear materials. The fund relies entirely on voluntary contributions
from IAEA member countries. To date,
the $US32 million fund has received donations from 17 countries, including
Canada
($2 million). The money is being
used for training, to help establish strong regulatory systems, to improve
border security and to help support physical protection measures. Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Kyrgyzstan
have all had help from the fund.
- The IAEA representatives noted that Canada’s
contribution to the Nuclear Security Fund lapses in 2006 and asked that
Committee members urge the government to make a new donation. They further asked that the next
donation be a “universal” one, rather than being tied to any one program,
so that the Agency would have more freedom to find the best place to
invest the funds, as situations change and new challenges arise.
United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of
Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR)
- UNSCEAR is the organization that collects and
analyses data from a wide variety of sources on the health effects of
exposure to ionizing radiation.
They use the scientific data to establish exposure standards.
- The organization started out as a follow-up to
the war-time exposure of people to atomic radiation – primarily the people
of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. They have conducted long-term studies of
the epidemiology of cancer risk to survivors of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki.
- The Committee heard that there were an estimated
86,000 survivors of the war-time bombing.
Of those survivors, there have so far been 7800 deaths due to
cancer. Perhaps surprisingly, only
5% of those deaths (350 people) can be attributed to excess radiation from
the atomic bombs. UNSCEAR’s
conclusion is that radiation is a very weak carcinogen at the levels
experienced by the survivors.
- One finding that the UNSCEAR studies have reported
that is a surprise to many is the apparent increase in the risk of heart
disease in patients getting radiotherapy treatments. This is a new, and as yet, tentative
finding, and the organization will be doing follow-up studies to see if
the correlation proves out.
- UNSCEAR has also been following the health
impacts of the Chernobyl
accident. In 1988, UNSCEAR reported
that there were 30 immediate deaths (28 from extreme radiation) and 115
deaths from acute radiation sickness in the weeks and months following the
Chernobyl
accident.
- In 2000, UNSCEAR studied 1800 cases of thyroid
cancer in children exposed to radiation as a result of Chernobyl. These children were not exposed
directly, but rather through the food chain (contaminated milk). By 2005, UNSCEAR had found 4000 cases of
thyroid cancer in exposed children, and only 9 deaths. Thyroid cancer is a treatable disease
with a relatively high treatment success rate.
- The Committee was told that, aside from these
findings, there is no evidence of a major public health problem
attributable to radiation 14 years after the incident. Even the incidence of leukemia, which
some experts had anticipated to increase, does not appear to have occurred
(even among people involved in the Chernobyl
clean-up efforts).
- The UNSCEAR representative did acknowledge that,
while the health impacts of Chernobyl
are much less than expected, a certain amount of luck was involved. If the wind had been blowing in a
different direction on the day of the accident, many of the 30,000 people
living in the town of Pripyat, near Chernobyl, could
have perished due to acute radiation sickness in the days and weeks
immediately after the accident.
- While UNSCEAR will continue to monitor the
Japanese survivors and those exposed at Chernobyl, it will also be active in
other areas of study. For example,
UNSCEAR will update data on natural, man-made and occupational exposure
rates; examine the effects of new medical procedures involving very short
time, high-dose exposure to radiation; examine the effects of radiation on
the non-human environment (radiobiology); study the impact of naturally
occurring radon in homes; and begin to assess the cancer risk from newly
identified cellular responses to radiation. They will also continue to study the
relationship between radiation exposure and non-cancer diseases (such as
heart disease).
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
- The Committee had set a precedent in 2001 by
becoming the first Canadian Parliamentary delegation to visit OPEC headquarters. This return visit was welcomed by both
the Committee and OPEC officials, including the Acting Secretary General,
who reviewed the origins and the objectives of the organization.
- The OPEC Statute declares that the aims of the
organization are: policy coordination with both OPEC members and
non-member producing countries; ensuring stable oil prices in the
international market; securing a steady income for OPEC producers; ensuring
consuming countries of an adequate supply of oil; and, guaranteeing a fair
rate of return for those investing in oil production.
- The Committee was given presentations on OPEC’s
view of both the short-term and the long-term world oil market outlook and
had the opportunity to discuss some of the issues raised. With respect to the short-term market,
the Committee was told that a key feature is the stronger than expected
growth in the world economy (5.1% in 2004 and 4.1% in 2005). This was accompanied by a consequent 2.8
million barrel/day (b/d) increase in demand for oil in 2004, and a 1.6
million b/d increase to date for 2005.
- The greatest increase in demand for oil was from China,
which has been experiencing 40% year-over-year increases, making it the
world’s second largest consumer.
OPEC officials noted that future demand growth in China is
proving very hard to predict and adds volatility to the world situation.
- Despite fears in OECD countries, OPEC assured the
Committee that the supply is available to meet expected short-term demand. Current OPEC stocks are about 321.4 million
barrels (mb), which is 34 mb more than at the same time last year and
higher than the average over the last five years. This represents a 20.2 day supply.
- According to OPEC, crude oil supply is not the cause
of current price spikes. The
problem lies with refinery capacity, which has not grown apace with demand
for refined products (especially gasoline). For example, they estimate that world
gasoline stocks are at an all-time low, of 194 mb, which is 5 mb below the
five year average. Damage to U.S. production
and refining facilities, combined with speculation based on the fear of
supply shortfalls is also causing a run-up in crude oil prices.
- Officials are obviously aware of the public
perception that OPEC is pushing prices up for their own financial
gain. They counter this perception
with a number of publications showing who benefits from an increase in the
price of a barrel of oil. These
show that G7 countries get more money in taxes from each barrel of oil
sold than do OPEC producers.
- According to OPEC predictions, any modest supply
constraints now being felt (because of Hurricane Katrina) will ease in
2006 as production in the Gulf of Mexico returns and as OECD countries use
their Strategic Petroleum Reserves to offset lost production. They predict that the price of crude oil
will settle somewhere near $50 per barrel.
- The long-term world oil outlook is, as one would
expect, somewhat more uncertain.
While OECD countries are concerned about “security of supply,” OPEC
worries about “security of demand.”
What is clear is that demand will grow (from 84 mb/d today, to 111
mb/d by 2025), fueled largely by the growth of less-developed countries
including China and India.
- Most of
the anticipated growth will be in the transport sector and so the issue of
adequate refinery capacity to supply gasoline will be crucial, both in the
short term and in the longer term.
In fact, the Committee was told that OPEC expects bottlenecks in
the downstream oil industry (i.e. refining) rather than oil supply to be
the prime factor in price volatility.
- The scale of the potential growth in demand was
explained using a few figures. Currently
in the U.S.,
there are between 500 and 700 cars per 1000 people. The comparable figure for China at
the moment is 10. Given its huge
population, as China’s
economy grows and the number of cars per 1000 people moves in the
direction of the U.S.
figure, overall world demand for gasoline will skyrocket.
- Over the
long term, OPEC is optimistic that oil supply will be adequate to meet demand. Higher prices and new technologies will
ensure that more of the existing resource base is extracted, and will also
encourage greater production from non-conventional oil sources such as Canada’s
oil sands.
- OPEC is acutely aware of the environmental
concerns associated with continued reliance on fossil fuels. They believe that better technology will
help to address concerns over rising emissions, especially from the
transportation sector.
- With regard to emissions from stationary sources,
OPEC is very interested in carbon sequestration technology, such as that
being demonstrated in Weyburn,
Saskatchewan. In fact, the Committee heard that OPEC considers
this such an important issue, that it is contemplating joining the IEA’s
(International Energy Agency) carbon capture and sequestration program.
- OPEC is making a contribution to reducing GHG
emissions by encouraging (very successfully) its members to reduce gas
flaring. The gas not being flared
is beginning to be used to produce LNG (liquefied natural gas) for export.
In the future, OPEC sees its
members as becoming an important part of the emerging international market
for LNG.
CONCLUSION
·
During the fact-finding mission, Committee members
were able to meet and exchange ideas with experts from across a broad range of
organizations. Discussions ranged from
the inadequacy of Canadian nuclear liability insurance requirements to the
International Energy Agency’s response to the impacts of Hurricane Katrina on
the world price for oil.
·
Committee members were brought up to date on the
status of international nuclear safety and security issues, progress on
radioactive waste management and the outcome of long-term studies on the health
impacts of the Chernobyl
accident.
·
A meeting with senior officials of the Organization
for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) allowed the Committee to strengthen
the relationship it had begun with this important organization during a
previous (2001) visit. The insight
provided by the organization whose members are responsible for 40% of the
world’s current oil production and which hold 80% of the world’s oil reserves,
will be invaluable to Committee members in their future work with the
Committee.
·
All of the objectives that the Committee set out to
achieve were met and, in most cases, exceeded.
List of participants who
addressed the Standing Senate Committee on Energy, the Environment
and Natural Resources
Paris
and Vienna
September 5 – 10, 2005
MONDAY,
SEPTEMBER 5, 2005
National Agency for the Management of Radio-Active
Waste
Jacques Tamborini, Director of International Affairs.
Nuclear Energy Agency
Luis Echàvarri, Director General;
Gail H. Marcus, Deputy Director General;
Thierry Dujardin, Deputy Director, Science and Development;
Takanori Tanaka, Deputy Director, Safety and Regulations;
Hans Riotte, Head of Division, Radiation Protection and Waste
Management;
Javier Reig, Head of Division, Nuclear Safety;
Julia Schwartz, Head, Legal Affairs;
Karen Daifuku, External Relations and Public Affairs.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2005
Permanent Delegation of Canada to the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
The Honorable Jocelyne Bourgon, Ambassador, Permanent Representative to
the OECD;
Ross Glasgow, Counsellor.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD)
Donald J. Johnston, Secretary General;
Sveinbjörn Blöndal, Head, Structural Policy
Analysis Division, Economics Department.
International Energy Agency
Claude Mandil, Executive Director;
Noe van Hulst, Director, Office of Long-Term Cooperation and Policy
Analysis;
Jun Arima, Head of Section, Country Studies;
Rick Bradley, Head of Section, Energy Efficiency and Environment;
Kenji Kobayashi, Director, Office of Oil Markets and Emergency
Preparedness;
Lawrence Eagles, Head of Section, Oil Industry and
Markets;
Neil Hurst, Director, Office of Energy Technology and Research and
Development;
Antonio Pfluger, Head of Section, Energy Technology Collaboration.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7,
2005
Canadian Embassy in France
Claude Laverdure, Canadian Ambassador to France.
OECD Environment Directorate
Lorents Lorentsen, Director;
Christian Averous, Head, Environmental Performance and Information
Division;
Tom Jones, Head, Global and Structural Polices Division;
Cristina Tebar Less, Acting Counsellor, Global and Structural Policies
Division;
Kristen Haddock-Guichenal, National Policies Division;
Candy Stevens, Sustainable Development Expert.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8,
2005
Permanent Mission of
Canadian Delegation to the International Organizations in Vienna
Ingrid Hall, Ambassador and
Permanent Representative from Canada;
Scott Proudfoot, Alternate Permanent Representative of Canada;
Peter Elder, Counsellor, Nuclear Affairs.
International Atomic Energy Agency
Vilmos Cserveny, Director of External Relations and Policy
Coordination;
Yoshio Taniguchi, Deputy Director General of Nuclear Safety and
Security;
Ken Brockman, Director, Nuclear Installation Safety;
Eliana Correa da Silva Amaral, Director of Radiation, Transport and
Waste Safety;
Ann-Margaret Eriksson Eklund, Office of Nuclear Security;
Hans Forsstroem, Director, Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology;
Yuri Sokolov, Deputy Director General, Department of Nuclear Energy;
Paul Martin,
Section Head & Manager, Environmental
Sciences.
United Nations Scientific
Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) Secretariat
Malcolm Crick, Scientific Secretary, United
Nations Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation.
FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 9, 2005
Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
Adnan Shihab-Eldin, Acting
Secretary General;
Mohamed Hamel, Head, Energy
Studies Department;
O. F. Ibrahim, Head, Public Relations and Information Department;
Mohammad Alipour-Jeddi, Head,
Petroleum Market Analysis Department, and Experts, Research Division.
Trade Commissioner Service, Embassy of Canada
Pamela Hay, Senior Trade Commissioner;
Nicole Mothes, Trade Commissioner;
Philipp Wieltsching, Trade Commissioner.
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