The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Dear Editor, If you are a small community looking to prop up your slumping economy by assuming Canada's high-level nuclear waste problem, too bad, you've missed the Sept. 30 deadline. Expressions of interest are now closed, and the lucky 21 communities scattered from Saskatchewan through northwestern Ontario are happily seated on the Nuclear Waste Management Organiza-tion's train to the future. And just what does that future hold? That depends on your perspective; it could mean jobs, money and community development, or a toxic legacy of leaking containers, hundreds of dangerous semis rolling down your streets with the most insidious cargo, and the loss of your most valuable asset, a pristine wilderness. The crux of the problem is that Canada's nuclear industry has to relieve itself of a rapidly growing stockpile of high-level radioactive waste. Unfortunately this is not the compostable variety; there are over two million spent fuel rods that contain some of the nastiest poisons known to humankind, which have to remain isolated from contact with nature for hundreds of thousands of years. To put this period of time in context, it is equivalent to the length of time humans have walked this earth. Ironically, nuclear power has only been used as a source of power for less than 70 years and has economically turned out to be a bust. The waste includes a variety of radionuclides, including plutonium, much coveted for the production of weapons of mass destruction. These rods have been kept in gigantic pools of heavy water and later in dry storage on site at reactors, located mostly in southern Ontario at Pickering, Darlington and the Bruce generating stations. Manitoba has its share as well, resting in large concrete canisters at the plant next to the Winnipeg River. The NWMO is a consortium of waste-producing companies and has been given the mandate from the federal government to deal with their own radioactive waste. There is nothing arms-length in this process, and their ultimate plan is to bury the waste deep in the Canadian Shield, later backfilling and sealing the facility for good. The plan insists that retrievability will continue to be an option; however they admit that 'the process of retrieval will become progressively more demanding and resource intensive as the used fuel containers are sealed in the placement rooms...' If the NWMO is successful in adopting a host community, a repository will be built, and in subsequent years (no one is quite sure how long), the containers will break down and the waste will leak into the groundwater. The ability of the repository to contain this waste is entirely based on computer modeling, which is dependent upon a series of assumptions, including climate and other geologic conditions. These scientists believe that their multiple-barrier system will prevent a major release of radioactivity into the water that pours through the many cracks and fissures of the granite. Many who don't share their optimism are aware that the pumps at the research repository in Lac Du Bonnet ran steadily throughout Atomic Energy of Canada's decade of research. They also know that Canadian Shield granite is not impermeable and allows for the migration of water through it. The same critics have also suggested that the NWMO's plans may be much more grandiose and include importing nuclear waste from other countries as a way to offset the tremendous costs being incurred from staging such a facility. Conspicuously absent from the list of host communities is any town in Manitoba. Since 1987, Manitoba has stood by its High-Level Radioactive Waste Act, which prohibits the disposal of nuclear waste not produced in this province. Contravention of the law results in fines of up to one million dollars a day. Although the federal government holds the jurisdiction over all things nuclear, Manitoba's law remains unchallenged. Provincial boundaries, however, do not restrict the flow of water, and even with this law in place, two communities close to Manitoba borders are on the third step of the process in choosing a repository. They include Ear Falls, Ontario, and Creighton, Saskatchewan. Ear Falls borders the beautiful Woodland Caribou Provincial Park and lies adjacent to the Bloodvein River system, which flows into Lake Winnipeg. Creighton, the western neighbour of Flin Flon, lies near the Saskatchewan and Churchill Rivers that run into Hudson Bay. Although Manitoba has had success in keeping the NWMO's foot out of the door, neighbouring communities threaten its abundance of clean water. Radionuclides can be widely dispersed through water, and water is not restricted by provincial boundaries. Implementing the underground disposal concept may remove the waste from storage areas at the reactor sites, but it only moves the problem out of site, and out of mind. Considering the implications associated with transporting, retrieving the waste in case of problems and the social impact on people living in vulnerable rural areas, keeping the waste above ground at the source of production seems prudent. The real solution is to phase out nuclear power. Dave Taylor Winnipeg
