Dear editor,
A recent letter to the Fort Frances Times and Chronicle Journal, authored by Joanne Jacyk of the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) deserves a response and as a member of the general public who has followed the issue of nuclear waste I felt compelled to make the following comments.
Joanne’s first point on the issue is the NWMO has always encouraged people to learn more – and they can. But who are they leaning from? The NWMO, who has a budget of hundreds of millions of dollars to convince us their plan is safe for all time into the future? Having read some of their literature and listened to people from the NWMO, there is little to almost zero information in their literature to suggest there are risks to the environment and to those who live in the downstream watersheds. They/NWMO have it figured out for the next 250,000 years.
The second point about the approval and regulatory process is laughable. The nuclear industry regulates itself and is overseeing the whole regulatory process, so are they going to be unbiased? Likely not, or the whole nuclear industry is in trouble and with no future. It is the fox looking after the chicken coop!
Jacyck’s comments on how we are all connected to the provincial grid and we here in the north use nuclear power is the hardest comment to swallow. It has only been recently that the southern part of the province is connected to the northern grid. Prior to this most recent upgrade, power could not be transmitted south or north. To top that off I live in Atikokan and just six kilometers north of us there is an Ontario Power Generation power plant that was designed for peak power standby requirements. That plant rarely operates – mostly in the winter when power demands can be significant. A similar OPG plant that was operational in Thunder Bay has been shut down permanently. It could have been refurbished for biomass as was done to the plant in Atikokan and that was not an option. Why? There is no demand for the power. So to suggest we rely or use nuclear power is ridiculous and NW Ontario has never had a shortage of electrical power. In the 50 years I have lived here I have never experienced brown out due to a lack of power. One only has to look at the GTA area and most of S. Ontario and it does not take a lot of grey matter to see where the demand for electricity is and where the electrons flow from nuclear plants.
Her comments about being in discussions with Ignace and Wabigoon First Nations for a decade is the only accurate statement she made. What she did elaborate on is the millions of dollars the NWMO has spent to keep those communities engaged. Engaged or bought off? It can be viewed both ways but it would have been interesting to know how well the NWMO would have fared in their mandate with no “wellness” money.
She also tells us that internationally deep geological disposal of their extremely toxic waste is accepted by the international community and why would it not be if you are part of any nuclear industry? What else would you tell the public having produced and continue to produce the most toxic poisons known to mankind, with no known or proven method of disposing of that waste.
The safety issues? The layers of measures they have taken to ensure our safety and for those who will have to live with the toxins they plan to bury and abandon holds no comfort for me and many other communities in the region. The NWMO’s mandate and plans are an experiment – a very long term dangerous experiment, literally for all time hence forward.
Joanne should answer the following questions to reassure us all if she can be taken seriously. She states there is an enormous opportunity in becoming the dumping grounds for the nuclear industry’s toxic waste. The economic dollar figure has been pegged at around $24 billion dollars.
So Joanne, why did NWMO come to an economically depressed small town thousands of kilometers from where the toxic waste is produced? If this project is such a boon to any economy why are there not hundreds of other communities across the province getting in line to suck up the $24 billion dollars?
The answer is quite clear to the majority of people who live in this region. Nobody or the majority of people don’t want other people’s toxic waste!
The NWMO, the people who work for NWMO and the politicians who support NWMO should be ashamed of themselves for the process they have unleashed to take advantage of a very small community desperate for anything that looks like prosperity. Using public money to carry out their dirty work adds insult to injury for us who pay our electric bills. In summary I and many others would tell Joanne you can fool some of the people some of the time but you can’t fool all the people all the time.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
James Kimberley
Atikokan Ontario
Editor’s Note: The letter this submission is responding to is titled “Clearing up nuclear misconceptions” and was published in the July 31 edition of the Fort Frances Times. It can also be found on our website, fftimes.com, under the Letters section.
