CANDU Industries to government: “Shop Ontario”

March 12, 2008

The Organization of CANDU Industries (OCI) is urging the Ontario government to support those working in Canada's world-leading nuclear industry and select made-in-Canada CANDU for Ontario.

“The choice of nuclear technology will be one of the most important decisions this government makes during this term in office,” says President of OCI, Martyn Wash. “Choosing CANDU will provide a long-term multi-billion dollar economic boost for Ontario's economy and send a strong signal of support to potential international customers as Canada pursues more nuclear business on the world stage. Recent studies have shown that a twin CANDU ACR-1000 would create 62,000 person years of employment and a boost of $5.1 Billion in GDP benefit to Ontario.”

The Team CANDU consortium of AECL and private sector partners have been building reactors continuously for the past 30 years and have the strongest core delivery capability of any nuclear vendor in the world. Canadians have designed and built six CANDU reactors in the past 11 years, and all of these projects have been completed on or ahead of schedule, and on or under budget. These international projects have kept our Ontario-based nuclear industry viable, efficient and ready for additional projects here at home, or anywhere else in the world.

“We’ve been successful around the world building plants on-time and on-budget for international customers and have captured about 10 per cent of the world market,” says Wash. “We are confident that we can maintain that percentage of market share which is estimated to generate between $15 and $34 billion in Canadian GDP growth through the construction of CANDU power plants. CANDU offers Ontario the best package of jobs and economic development benefits, world-class reactor performance, and a home-grown industry that is mobilized and ready to deliver. They should shop Ontario.”
www.canducanada.ca