nuclear-news

Thunder Bay Council to debate nuclear waste position

Thunder Bay’s city council will debate whether to stake out a position opposing the transportation of nuclear waste through the city.

TBnewswatch.com Ian Kaufman, Oct 27, 2023

THUNDER BAY — Thunder Bay’s city council will consider its position on the transportation of nuclear waste through the area on Monday, as a decision to ship the waste to the Ignace area looms.

Citizen groups Environment North and We the Nuclear Free North asked council last year to endorse the “proximity principle,” which would dictate keeping nuclear waste as close as possible to its point of generation.

That ask was referred to the city’s intergovernmental affairs committee, which will present a recommendation against the step at a council meeting on Monday…………..

The groups point to a now decades-old plebiscite in which Thunder Bay voters expressed concerns over nuclear waste disposal.

A 1997 plebiscite asked citizens if they were in favour of nuclear waste disposal in the Thunder Bay area. Of roughly 40,000 who voted, over 91 per cent voted no.

In 2000, city council passed a motion building on that plebiscite, expressing “concern with the transportation of nuclear waste through the city of Thunder Bay.”………………

We the Nuclear Free North has launched a similar call to endorse the proximity principle at Queen’s Park, delivering a long-shot petition in May bearing over 1,000 signatures to the Ontario Legislature.

It wants the province to direct Ontario Power Generation to look to storage systems at or near points of generation, rather than a deep geological repository in other areas of the province.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization, the industry group tasked with finding a disposal solution for Canada’s nuclear waste, is considering Revell Lake, between Ignace and Dryden, and South Bruce as DGR sites.

A selection between the two sites for the $25-billion project is expected in 2024.   …………………………………………

Wendy O’Connor, communications lead for We the Nuclear Free North, said approving a repository in Ignace would force the region to bear the burden of a nuclear waste a problem “that’s been sidestepped for decades.”

“There is no solution to nuclear waste. There is no good, totally safe way to deal with it,” she said.

However, she believes a solution closer to where waste is generated at sites in Southern Ontario makes more sense………………………………..  https://www.tbnewswatch.com/local-news/council-to-debate-nuclear-waste-position-7745525 #nuclear #antinuclear #NoNukes

                                                          .

October 30, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Canada, politics, wastes