simple rubbish told around the world: an anti-nuclear data story

Australian energy policy personality Simon Holmes à Court posted to X, “the simple fact is *every* new nuclear power project in ontario’s history went way over budget.” I think ‘fact’ needs to be examined. The facts in his post are a distortion of what was, for the most part, delivered much more truthfully 37 years ago.

In Ontario this month the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) is holding public hearings on an application by Ontario Power Generation (OPG, the public generator), “for a licence to construct one BWRX-300 reactor at the Darlington New Nuclear Project Site (DNNP).” Regulator hearings are an income opportunity for groups permitted to act as intervenors. The anti-nuclear Ontario Clean Air Alliance (OCAA) is one such intervenor, and it is from their presentation at the hearing relayed to Australia as “simple fact.”

Many online quickly observed an issue with this table in its disregard of real values in adjusting currency values for time. I will explore that after checking the data sources noted in footnotes.