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Google PlayCanada’s nuclear industry has big plans to trash tons of radioactive materials in Ontario, but the disposal plan is causing concern.
The proposal by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) would move an estimated 30,0000 shipments of contaminated nuclear fuel rods over several decades starting in the 2040s. That works out to the disposal facility receiving one to two shipments per day. So, basically, there would almost always be a load of used nuclear fuel moving around somewhere in the province, along public arteries.
The dangerous trash would be coming from both active power plants and storage facilities around Ontario as well as Quebec, New Brunswick, and Manitoba, and would travel via both rail and road, using the 400 series highways to make their way to the final destination.
Currently, there are two proposed locations for the resting place of the nuclear fuel rods. One is in South Bruce, Ontario, a municipality in Bruce County, just a stone’s throw from the town of Walkerton, which is home to one of the country’s most disastrous public health tragedies where municipal water wells became contaminated by manure, killing seven people and harming thousands more. That area could use a break. The other proposed area is in Ignace, up in Northwestern Ontario near Kenora, and to get there would require the radioactive rods to travel through hundreds of communities and on major highways. The final decision between the two will be made next year.
Still, nuclear waste isn’t just packaged up in a paper box with some plastic stuffing like a pair of headphones from Amazon. Instead, these containers go through rigorous testing and are built to seal in the harmful radiation. According to the NWMO, in nearly 60 years of moving around nuclear waste there has yet to be an accident where humans or the environment have been exposed.
“Transportation of used nuclear fuel is subject to stringent regulation and oversight,” the report explains. “The NWMO will need to demonstrate to regulatory authorities the safety and security of any transportation system before transportation to the repository can begin.”
The whole project is estimated to take 50 years to complete.
