Dear Editor,
I recently wrote a letter to your newspaper criticizing the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) on their wasteful spending of public money, particularly on all expense paid trips to Finland by a few select people of the general public. I don’t usually get into duelling letters on matters I believe in but a rebuttal letter sent in by Jaro Franta a retired employee of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (A.E.C.L) certainly deserves a response as it seemed to hit a nerve with Mr. Franta. The NWMO has been courting the towns of Ignace and Wabigoon First Nations to be the host communities into accepting Canada’s first nuclear waste dump, which will see extremely toxic waste dumped here in our region and become the dumping ground for radioactive waste produced in Canada. Whether you want to call it a repository or a dump, that can be debated, but in light of the facility NWMO is promoting, a toxic waste dump best sums it up. There is nothing sterile or safe about radioactive waste. It is extremely toxic and deadly.
Mr. Franta’s letter is basically critical of the accuracy and truth in the content of what I wrote, but he should have done some fact checking of his own as his letter contains misinformation.
Mr. Franta states that experimentation took place in an abandoned mine near Atikokan. If A.E.C.L. was experimenting in an abandoned mine near Atikokan it certainly was not known to the public and this would certainly explain the mistrust of the nuclear industry.
Fact check: A.E.C.L. did borehole drilling at Forsberg Lake some 27 kilometres north west of Atikokan. To my knowledge, there was no mine there. According to A.E.C.L staff, the intent was to study the flow of water through a granite geological formation called a pluton. A.E.C.L. had an office in Atikokan and their message was nuclear waste could be buried in this granite pluton safely and they could prove this by studying their bore holes to see how water migrates through rock. This work was terminated and a survey of the community found 85% of the people did not want a toxic waste dump in our area. There were no free fire trucks, no free trips to observe nuclear facilities, no millions of dollars gifted to the community in “wellness’ money.
Mr. Franta’s comparison of the Finland nuclear waste dump is very misleading in that he states the Finnish dump will facilitate placement and retrieval of the toxic waste and he hints around that there will be some long term placement and monitoring of the dump. He states this is a preview of what NWMO will do here in N.W. Ontario. The final end product of NWMO is not a place to put this toxic waste in to the ground and study it and maybe retrieve it. There will be a period of study and monitoring, but their long-term goal is to entomb the radioactive waste, seal up the facility and in the end walk away from the dump and hope this waste – which is toxic for many thousands of years – will not find its way into our waterways.
So back to my letter that Mr. Franta was so critical about on my views of the money issues and NWMOs spending! The two ladies who recently went to Finland to study the Finnish facility were awed by a 20 minute ride to the bottom of the proposed nuclear waste dump. They also commented on the cement painted walls of the tunnelling, the slightly damp walls, the high ceilings of the tunnels, bright lights and a restaurant underground. If these comments and observations were all they had to bring back and deliver to their community then it leaves a lot to be desired. Snolab right here in Ontario could have shown them the same things at a much less cost to the public. Putting aside the comments for the two ladies from Ignace these trips are best summed up by Danine Chief a lady from Wabigoon First Nations who has also made the trip to Finland all expenses paid by NWMO. In an interview with NW News Watch she stated the trip was what they expected it to be, which was “like a mine site“. She also stated there were no great revelations one way or another! Perhaps the NWMO would like to publish a financial statement on how much these trips are costing the public? They could also include costs of trips by the general public to their nuclear plants, all expenses paid. On top of that they could include costs of learning trips by those from Wabigoon First Nations who have attended learning sessions in Winnipeg all expenses paid by NWMO.
Mr. Franta stated that it is common to give money or gifts to communities by corporations and this may be true in the private sector but using public money to promote a public utility/ industry that produces some of the most toxic waste known to mankind is another matter. If the private sector wants to give money or gifts that is their prerogative but spending other people’s money public money is another matter all together.
In conclusion, my comments and theme of my letter to the Fort Frances Times regarding out of control spending by NWMO went right over Mr. Franta’s head. Mr. Franta, having retired from a Federal Government Agency as an engineer and now perhaps on a government pension, may not appreciate how public money is spent, but most people do. All expense trips to Finland, Winnipeg and Southern Ontario could have been better spent on those in need.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
James Kimberley
Atikokan
