NIPIGON TOMORROW (Wed) NUCLEAR WASTE WORKSHOP

Written by Press Release on 22 November 2011

NIPIGON ADDED TO NUCLEAR INDUSTRY’S “STUDY” LIST

Northwatch to host Nuclear Waste Workshop in Nipigon November 23, 7 to 9 pm

NORTH BAY, ON – Several communities in northern Ontario are allowing themselves to be studied as the possible location for an underground repository for all of Canada’s highly radioactive nuclear reactor waste as part of the nuclear industry’s search for a “willing” host. The town of Nipigon is the most recent to add itself to the list.

In early November the municipality passed a resolution inviting the Nuclear Waste Management Organziation to conduct an “initial screening” of Nipigon of the community as a potential nuclear waste repository site.

The northern Ontario communities of Ear Falls, Schreiber, Ignace, Hornepayne and Wawa are also being investigated by the nuclear industry, as well as three communities in northern Saskatchewan.

Communities throughout northern Ontario were first investigated as possible burial sites by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited in the early 1980s. After meeting strong opposition to that effort, the crown corporation then developed a generic “concept” for burying nuclear waste in the Canadian Shield, but failed to gain an environmental approval when the review concluded in 1998. The newest proposal is similar to that developed by AECL, but is being forwarded by an organization made of the companies who operate nuclear reactors in Canada. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s proposal – like AECL’s – consists of placing the waste in metal containers deep underground. Many residents are concerned about the risk of accidents, including during transportation, exposure to the radioactive wastes, and the effects on the environment and human health when the radioactivity and toxicity of the wastes outlast the containers.

“We appreciate that the communities in northern Ontario who have expressed interest in this proposal are still in the very early stages of their arrangement with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization,” commented Brennain Lloyd, a spokesperson for Northwatch.

“That said, each of these communities will have to make a decision relatively soon about whether they want to continue in the NWMO process. It is hard to make good decisions without good information. In our view, good information is information that is reliable and independent and comes from a variety of sources, not just from the industry who is promoting the project.”

Residents of Nipigon and area are encouraged to attend an open session being hosted by Northwatch on Wednesday, November 23rd, from 7 to 9 pm in the Nipigon Community Centre.

NORTHWATCH Northwatch is a non-profit group based on northeastern Ontario, that has been very involved in the review of options for the long-term management of nuclear waste since communities throughout northern Ontario were first investigated as possible burial sites by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited in the early 1980s. Like many of their neighbours and like the dozens of communities along the potential transportation route between the nuclear reactors of southern Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick and any of the communities that the NWMO might investigate, Northwatch is concerned about the prospect of nuclear waste being transported through the region and about the environmental and social consequences of placing a community in northern Ontario on the receiving end of all of the wastes generated by Canadian nuclear reactors – 50,000 tonnes to date and rising. [CONTINUE READING… CLICK HERE]

LEARN MORE

Learn more about the Nuclear Waste Management Organization. established in 2002 in accordance with the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act to assume responsibility for long-term management of Canada’s used nuclear fuel. The selected approach for the long-term management of used fuel is Adaptive Phased Management. Another major project for the NWMO is seeking regulatory approval, on behalf of Ontario Power Generation, for the construction of a Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) for the long-term management of its low and intermediate level waste. Includes information regarding communities that have expressed interest, their nuclear-education progress and more.
Learn more about Nuclear Waste from a site created to provide ordinary people with information about an extra-ordinary challenge: the long term management of the highly radioactive waste that is created as a byproduct of using nuclear power to generate electricity.