LETTER

Mr Amos, I trust you will not wait!

 

I do not understand how my MP Mr William Amos can "wait" and "trust the process" when the facts show that the proposed radioactive above-ground mound is counter to Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) own documents.

Some facts on CNSC websites: Low-level radioactive waste loses most or all of its radioactivity within 300 years and intermediate-level waste requires isolation and containment for periods beyond several hundred years. The CNSC requires facility operators to ensure they have funds to cover the costs of long-term management of low- and intermediate-level waste. The owners of (this) waste are responsible for managing the waste they produce. They may also be transferred to an authorized waste management operator, such as Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) at Chalk River, on a fee-for-service basis.

Alternative solution

OPG has proposed a Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) to serve as long-term storage for its low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste. This repository would safely isolate and contain the waste 680 metres underground in stable rock formations that are more than 450 million years old.

Today, we are presented with a CNL proposal to build a five-storey-high mound roughly a kilometre from the Ottawa River! They try to reassure us that it will be “mostly” low-level waste. “Mostly” means there will be some intermediate-level waste that will be radioactive for about 1,000 years -- stored in a site projected to be secure for about 500 years.

Based on these facts from CNSC and OPG's own source material, it is clear to me that the present proposal is deeply flawed and dangerous. I will now wait and see if facts will drive the process rather than “trust”.

Ron Temchuk
Aylmer