Request for Full and Detailed Impact Assessment of NWMO’s Proposal for a Deep Geological Repository of Nuclear Fuel Waste in Northwestern Ontario

As a resident of Thunder Bay, Ontario, I write to express my opposition to the proposed Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO)’s proposal to transport and store nuclear fuel waste in a deep geological repository in the Ignace-Dryden region in Northwestern Ontario.

I am commenting here on the impact assessment review process.

First, the thirty-day comment period is too short and doesn’t give the public time to hear about, research, and understand the issues at stake. This project will have impacts far into our future, and so the review process must not be rushed or simply rubber stamped.

Second, the impact assessment must address the key issue of transportation of the nuclear waste. The project proposes sending two to three trucks per day carrying hazardous waste over two-lane public highways, which, especially in Northern Ontario, are extremely treacherous under winter ice and snow conditions. According to a friend who works on highway snow removal, the issue would not be “if” but “when” and “how often” there are accidents on these roads, especially in winter time.

Given the risk of accidents, the proposal to send nuclear waste such a far distance of an average 1,800 km over a long period of time seriously endangers the people and the environment along the route as well as in the proposed Northwestern Ontario site and surrounding areas.

In sum, transportation must be included in the impact assessment.

In addition, the impact assessment needs to provide details about alternative means of disposal of the nuclear waste. For example, are there proposals to store the waste closer to its site of origin that would eliminate the need for such long-distance transport?

Finally, the NWMO does not provide enough information about the project activities and what will happen in case of an accident, especially as there is currently no operating DGR for high-level nuclear waste anywhere in the world for comparison. How would the waste be transferred into the ground? How would it be retrieved if a container was failing? What radiological risk would it pose to the workers on the project and the local residents? Are there adequate emergency services in the area? How would the project affect the environment and the water at the site and in the surrounding areas?

I therefore request that NWMO’s project be given a full detailed and thorough impact assessment, with a public hearing and adequate time for public participation; that the assessment include transportation; and that it include alternative means of carrying out the disposal of the nuclear fuel waste.