Quebec to close only nuclear power plant

Quebec's newly elected separatist government will close the province's only nuclear power plant after 30 years of service, a Parti Quebecois spokesman said. The Gentilly-2 plant went online in 1983 in Trois-Rivieres along the St. Lawrence Seaway midway between Montreal and Quebec City. Four years ago, the previous Liberal provincial government said it would allocate $2 billion to refurbish the plant. However, PQ spokesman Eric Gamache told the Gazette his party decided in 2009 it would close the facility once elected. Because the Parti Quebecois has a slim political majority the matter won't require a vote in the National Assembly, the report said. The plant produces only about 3 percent of Quebec's electricity, with the balance coming from hydro power. The news emerged as an anti-nuclear documentary film by filmmakers Guylaine Maroist and Eric Ruel debuted in Montreal. In "Gentilly or Not To Be," allegations are made of higher incidents of leukemia in children and birth defects in the region around the facility, the newspaper said.