NUCLEAR WASTE ACTION ALERT (#1)
Dear friends and supporters,
We the Nuclear Free North is an alliance of people and groups opposing a deep geological repository for Canada’s accumulated nuclear waste in Northwestern Ontario. Environment North and Nuclear Free Thunder Bay are members of this alliance. We conduct reseansport, burial and abandonment of high-level radioactive waste in our northern watearch, consult nuclear safety experts, hold educational forums, address municipal councils and raise public awareness about risks associated with the trrsheds. We have concernsization (NW about the risks to human health and the environment associated with transporting and burying the radioactive waste in our region.
The Nuclear Waste Management OrganMO) is an industry-led organization established under the Nuclear Fuel Safety Act. It was mandated to consider three approaches for the long-term management of Canada’s high level radioactive nuclear waste: a deep geological disposal; storage at nuclear reactor sites; and centralized storage. NWMO decided to pursue the first approach and now proposes to transport, bury and abandon this waste in one of two locations. One proposed location is south of the Trans-Canada Highway between Ignace and Dryden. If this site is selected, an estimated 106,900 tonnes of radioactive waste would be shipped through Thunder Bay over a period of fifty years to be repackaged, buried and ultimately abandoned by 2088. The site selection decision is slated to take place in 2024.
You may share our concerns about the prospect of nuclear waste being transported through our city and buried in Northwestern Ontario. If you do, please consider writing a letter to Thunder Bay City Council. Below you will find a sample letter for your use. Your voice combined with many others can make a difference. Our organizations will be making a deputation to City Council on August 26th. Essentially, we are asking Council to convey our concerns to the NWMO and the Federal Government. The waste we are talking about will remain radioactive for over a million years. Northwestern Ontario does not rely on nuclear energy but rather relies primarily on its own regionally produced hydro, biomass, wind and solar-generated power. For more information, please visit our websites: https://wethenuclearfreenorth.ca/. and http://www.environmentnorth.ca/issues/c/4
The Council Meeting is open to the public. It will be held on August 26th at City Hall, beginning at 6:30 pm. Come on out and show your support!
Thanks for taking the time to read this,
Sincerely,
We the Nuclear Free North
Environment North
Thunder Bay Nuclear Free
Below is a sample letter, which you may modify as you wish.
CLICK HERE for the email addresses for the Mayor, City Councillors and City Clerk (copy and paste to the "to", "cc" or "bcc" field).
SAMPLE LETTER
Thunder Bay City Council
500 Donald St., PO Box 800
Thunder Bay, On P7C 5K4
Date:
Dear Mayor Boshcoff and City Councillors,
I am concerned about the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s (NWMO’s) proposal to establish a deep geological repository for nuclear waste in Northwestern Ontario, which by necessity involves transporting this highly radioactive waste through Thunder Bay.
I am especially concerned about:
- the risk of radioactive releases from the transport containers harming residents in our city and region, particularly if there is a breach of the container or an accident;
- the terrorist risk if these transport containers become a military target;
- the fact that NWMO’s site selection process only requires willingness on the part of two small communities, Ignace and Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation, with less than 2,000 people in total, while Thunder Bay and multiple communities along the transportation route and in the site’s watershed, representing hundreds of thousands of people, have not had a say in the decision.
I am asking that City Council support a resolution urging the NWMO to pursue storage solutions for nuclear waste in the vicinity of the reactor stations where the waste has been generated and is currently stored and not pursue the transport to and disposal of these radioactive wastes in Northwestern Ontario.
Numerous concerns have been raised about the NWMO’s nuclear waste disposal plan to adequately protect people and the environment as well as the legitimacy and fairness of their site selection process. Several municipalities, First Nations and organizations have already expressed their opposition to the NWMO proposal. I urge you to speak up on behalf of Thunder Bay.
Sincerely,
__________________________________________
Name: ___________________________________
Address: _________________________________
__________________________________________