Essex MPP Taras Natyshak and Amherstburg fire officials held a press conference at Queen’s Park Wednesday to demand the provincial government provide more support for Ontario towns near U.S. nuclear plants.
The call for action came after a recent report by Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk said Ontario’s emergency response for nuclear disasters is not good enough.
Amherstburg is about 16 kilometres from the Fermi II Nuclear plant in Michigan, yet it does not received the same level of support as communities near Canadian nuclear generating stations, according to Lysyk, including thyroid blocking pills, practice tests and emergency management.
No nuclear protection in Amherstburg
“Local leaders have been speaking out for years, calling for the Liberal government to finally wake up and realize that they are leaving southwestern Ontario municipalities to fend for themselves should catastrophe strike,” said Natyshak. “It’s time for the Wynne government to finally take responsibility for emergency management and provide southwestern Ontario communities with the support they need.”
Amherstburg gets $25,000 annually from Detroit, Mich.-based DTE Energy Co. which goes directly to a nuclear management program, funding things like the town’s siren notification system.
Amherstburg Fire Chief Bruce Montone said the fire department receives no money from the Ontario government to be used for nuclear emergency preparedness. (Chris Ensing/CBC)
“We get nothing from Ontario,” Montone previously told CBC News, adding that communities near nuclear power plants located in Ontario receive more than $100,000 a year in funding from the provincial government.
High court orders Shikoku Electric to keep Ikata reactor shut
Shikoku Electric shares tumble most in more than four years
A Japanese court overturned a ruling that allowed a nuclear reactor in the country’s south to operate, frustrating the government’s push to bring online dozens of plants shut in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster.
The decision by the Hiroshima High Court, which cited risks from nearby volcanoes, sides with local citizens and reverses a lower court’s ruling that had cleared the way for Shikoku Electric Power Co. to operate its Ikata No. 3 unit, according to an emailed statement Wednesday from the company. The reactor, which restarted last year under stricter safety regulations, has been shut for maintenance and was scheduled to restart on Jan. 20.
Shikoku Electric fell as much as 11 percent in Tokyo, the biggest decline in more than four years, before paring the drop to 8.3 percent.
The injunction issued by the court is a blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s goal of having nuclear power account for as much as 22 percent of the nation’s electricity mix by 2030. Public opposition through local courts and municipal governments has emerged as one of the biggest obstacles to that plan. Just four of Japan’s 42 operable nuclear reactors are currently online.
The ruling was the first time a high court in Japan has overturned a lower court on the issue of nuclear restarts since the Fukushima disaster. A district court in Hiroshima sided with the utility in March in deciding not to issue a temporary injunction.
Shikoku called Wednesday’s ruling “unacceptable” and said it will try to get it reversed. The injunction is effective through Sept. 30, 2018, according to court documents.
The Hiroshima High Court said risks from volcanoes weren’t being “rationally evaluated” by the Japan Nuclear Regulation Authority. The agency declined to comment because it wasn’t involved in the court case.
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