nuclear-news

Canada’s massive nuclear waste problem threatens Saskatchewan

the amount of nuclear waste currently awaiting disposal is massive. “Two million spent fuel bundles now exist in Canada,” said Harding, “and if the reactors that are in operation today complete their projected cycle, that’ll double.”

Ontario to transfer nuclear waste to Saskatchewan | The Sheaf, ANDREW GLUM  10 Feb 2011, Saskatchewan may become the future home of a high-level nuclear waste dump, but Jim Harding and the Coalition for a Clean Green Saskatchewan intend to prevent that

Harding lectured at the Francis Morrison library Feb. 1 to raise awareness about Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s current negotiations with three northern communities — Pinehouse, Creighton and English River First Nation — regarding the creation of a high-level nuclear waste disposal site.

The immediate short-term goal of CCGS is to prevent the nuclear waste generated by Ontario power plants from ending up in Saskatchewan’s poverty-stricken north.

Harding not only discussed the economic, health and environmental ramifications of what he called “nuclear colonialism,” but also the dangers involved in transporting the waste across the country.

He added that the amount of nuclear waste currently awaiting disposal is massive.

“Two million spent fuel bundles now exist in Canada,” said Harding, “and if the reactors that are in operation today complete their projected cycle, that’ll double.”

Considering a majority of Saskatchewan residents opposed the construction of a nuclear power plant in the province, the chances of Saskatchewan accepting Ontario’s nuclear waste seems unlikely.

Harding described what such an arrangement would mean for Saskatchewan citizens.

“Now one scenario is shipping those millions in containers of 100 [spent fuel bundles] to a deep geological storage site. That means 18 to 20,000 truck loads or train loads of nuclear waste from southern Ontario, through northern Ontario, through Manitoba, through southern Saskatchewan into northern Saskatchewan,” he said.

“Now you calculate how many a day, for how many decades. People on that route are going to be seeing these trucks, on and off, all day, all night, literally for their whole life span.” the Sheaf

February 11, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, wastes