Soon after our office stopped shaking in today’s second earthquake, I started to wonder again about Ontario’s nuclear plants. OPG says we shouldn’t worry: “There have been no earthquakes greater than a Magnitude 4 within 50 km of the Pickering nuclear power station over the last 100 plus years.” This morning’s earthquake is reported to have been a magnitude 3; the afternoon earthquake is now being reported as 5 or 5.5. What does this do to OPG’s reassuring statistic? And what will our energy regulators do if it has changed?
Here’s another question worth checking: who has earthquake damage insurance coverage? I don’t think it’s a standard component of home insurance in the Toronto area; I know I had to pay extra to get it. Will we ever need it? I hope not. But it would be so much worse to need it, and NOT have it….