Nuke of the North: Quebec has a middle-aged nuclear reactor in a re-licensing struggle, too

Everybody - well, most people - knows about the situation at Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, which is trying to get its license renewed despite state opposition, and many people know that Pilgrim Station south of Boston is trying to get its license renewed as well, facing less but still non-zero opposition. Then there's New Hampshire's Seabrook Station, whose 40-year license doesn't run out for more than a decade but is trying to get it extended anyway because it don't want to be left out of the fun.

Until last weekend, however, I didn't know about another controversial nuclear plant not far from New Hampshire: Gentilly-2 Nuclear Station in Quebec, about halfway between Quebec City and Montreal on the south bank of the St. Lawrence seaway. It's owned by Hydro-Quebec, the folks who are selling lots of hydropower to New England want to sell more via the much-debated Northern Pass proposal.

Just like other nuke plants of roughly similar vintage, G-2 is trying to get its operating license renewed and is facing some opposition. Just like the others, it seems it will proably, although not definitely, get that license renewed for another couple of decades.

I found about it from this article in Seven Days, an alternative weekly printed in Burlinton, Vermont. (I also stole the "Nuke of the North" headline)

We're talking about an alt-weekly in uber-green Vermont, so as you'd expect it's not pro-nuclear-power. But the article isn't too rapidly negative and serves the purpose of all good journalism: It tells us about aspets of the world that we didn't know about.

For example, I've got to go add this plant to my alternative-energy Google Map.
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