nuclear-news

Anxiety in Ontario at the prospect of nuclear waste dump

Peabody said Walkerton’s tainted water tragedy a decade ago should be
reason enough to stay out of the radioactive-waste business.

“I would (also) question the wisdom of putting all of Canada’s nuclear
waste beside or close to Lake Huron under some of Canada’s best farm
land.” 

Nuclear waste dump idea sparks unease in Ontario The Canadian Press, Dec. 11, 2011  TORONTO — A community on the shores of Lake Huron has cracked open the door to southern Ontario’s becoming the permanent storage site for Canada’s spent, but still dangerously radioactive, nuclear fuel.

Until now, only nine communities in remote areas of northern
Saskatchewan and northern Ontario were in the running to host the
$24-billion project for a mammoth underground facility.

Now, to the consternation of some, one of southern Ontario’s premier
tourist destinations is on the radar, although how it got there is
already the subject of dispute.

The municipality of Saugeen Shores, which includes the picturesque
lakeside towns of Port Elgin and Southampton about three hours west of
Toronto, is showing interest in becoming home to the waste site.
Neighbouring Brockton is also looking to get on board as part of an
initiative to involve the entire county, which is already home to the
Bruce nuclear power plant in nearby Kincardine.

“It’s a radical departure from what conventional wisdom has been for
years: that (the waste) would go in the Canadian Shield,” said Chris
Peabody, a Brockton councillor from Walkerton, Ont.

“Councils up here are freaking out about wind energy, but they’re
inviting a nuclear waste dump into their town.”…….
The facility would warehouse millions of high-level nuclear-fuel rods
that remain dangerous indefinitely.

In return, the waste agency is dangling a huge economic-development
carrot, promising the creation of hundreds of jobs for the community
and thousands more for the region over many decades.

The downside, Robinson said, would be the huge stress such a project
would have on existing infrastructure……
Peabody said Walkerton’s tainted water tragedy a decade ago should be
reason enough to stay out of the radioactive-waste business.

“Taking a town like Walkerton, which has that legacy of E. coli, and
inviting a nuclear waste dump in — I have trouble with that,” Peabody
said.

“I would (also) question the wisdom of putting all of Canada’s nuclear
waste beside or close to Lake Huron under some of Canada’s best farm
land.”   http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20111211/permanent-nuclear-waste-dump-idea-unease-111211/#ixzz1gMcGb9yw

December 12, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, wastes