LETTER

Chalk River nuclear dump plan 

 

Old Fort William Cottagers’ Association (OFWCA) has researched and listened to the experts  on CNL’s draft environmental impact statement (EIS). There are very serious problems and concerns about CNL’s proposal for a Near Surface Disposal Facility (NSDF) at Chalk River.

First, CNL wants to bring in radioactive waste from around the country –– about 100,000 cubic metres of it. OFWCA said no to this last July in a resolution. Since then, the Municipalities of Sheenboro, Clarendon, Bristol, Campbell’s Bay, Canton de Lochaber, and the Township of Alfred and Plantagenet have also passed resolutions opposing this  (transporting) plan.

The proposed Mound where CNL will put all the radioactive waste would be massive -- about 16 hectares (40 acres) and 20-25 metres high (about 6-7 storeys). According to the plan, it will hold one million cubic metres (35 million cubic feet) of waste by 2070.

There has never been a disposal site for radioactive waste in Canada.  Canada doesn’t have regulations for this dump.  Disposal is not storage –– it is permanent and forever, meaning if something goes wrong, there isn’t much you can do about it and, if there were, it would be enormously expensive.

There are big problems with the site. First, it is adjacent to the Ottawa River (one km away and less than 100 metres from Perch Creek which drains into the River). The site is surrounded by wetlands –– swamps that are already quite contaminated from a long history of accidents and leaks.

Another problem is that CNL tells everyone that this Engineered Containment Mound is proven and safe. This is not true. There is no other mound in the world that we can find for disposal of radioactive waste. It is really the technology for a municipal dump, and you do not put hazardous radioactive waste in a municipal dump. One doesn’t  put batteries and paint in a dump. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) states that only very low-level radioactive waste could be placed in such a mound. (See: http://tinyurl.com/kks8lnn)

CNL seems to be hiding what it plans to put in this mound. CNL says only 1% will be intermediate-level waste; and it says it’s a small amount. This is also not true; that 1% is 10,000 cubic metres. But there is also another 10,000 cubic metres of radioactive mixed wastes (which can be contaminated with arsenic, mercury and PCBs). Putting intermediate-level radioactive waste in a mound like this is against all international standards.

CNL’s EIS completely disregards IAEA classifications. This makes it difficult to figure out what will actually go in this mound. CNL tells us the intermediate-level waste will not have long half-lives and that most of the waste will be demolition debris, from old buildings.

Experts are now discovering in the EIS that, in fact, CNL plans to dispose of some very hazardous and long-lived radionuclides in this mound. There is also a long list in the EIS of radioactive and some fissile materials that will be hazardous for hundreds of thousands of years –– some for millions of years. Plutonium and uranium are on that list. This is the worst of a lot of bad stuff. (See: http://tinyurl.com/n6lr89h) There is no way this mound can survive even a tiny fraction of the time those materials will. So into the river and into the air those radioactive contaminants will go.  
 
Either CNL is deceiving us or they do not know themselves what they are putting in this mound.

Another problem is that leaks will inevitably end up in our river. There are many ways leaks will happen. The radioactive waste will not be protected from rain and snow. Yes, the water that gets on the waste will be collected and treated. The treatment will remove radioactive contaminants from it; but certain things cannot be removed, like tritium, which is harmful to health if the concentration is too high. Furthermore, it is unclear what CNL will do with the contaminants that are removed from the water; are they put back into the dump, or where? But what if there is a storm –– lots of rain like in April-May? This rain water will overwhelm the system. The radioactive contaminants in that rain water will end up going into the wetlands, lake, stream and into the River.

By about 2070, when the mound is full, CNL will cover the dump, but these covers and the bottom liners won’t last forever. They will corrode and break down and then there will be serious problems with contaminants leaking into the River. If tears develop in the top liner, the whole mound could fill up with water like a bathtub and overflow. A tear could be created by an animal. CNL admits this in its draft environmental impact statement. So many things can happen that could create a leak –– some simple (like a breakdown in a pump or a power failure), others more dramatic, like storms, etc. (See: https://tinyurl.com/lklofxa)

CNL tells us all is proven, but there is no comparable disposal facility in the world, so these comments from CNL are deceptive. The location is wrong: no disposal facility for radioactive waste should ever be placed next to a major body of water and certainly not in wetlands where the water works its way into the river. Hazardous radioactive waste with long half-lives is wrong for this facility; it needs to be isolated from the environment and people. It cannot end up in a river.

Location, design, concept, and what they are putting in it is all wrong. CNL’s ads are deceptive.

Johanna Echlin, Old Fort William Cottagers’ Association
Fort William