Jan 262010
 

Has Ignace, Ontario been confirmed as the site for high-level radioactive waste disposal (for North America)?    (scroll down to IGNACE ONTARIO AS SITE FOR HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL? Which includes the Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal article, 11/27/2009)

Or is it someplace else, not at Ignace?

Or, can you believe what the nuclear/uranium/electricity corporations say?

CLICK HERE to watch the Jan 25 discussion about a proposed nuclear power plant in Peace River.

At about the one-third mark of this “debate” on CTV Alberta Prime Time News you hear Murray Elston/Vice-President of Corporate Affairs, Bruce Power; and former President of the Canadian Nuclear Association on the topic of nuclear waste.

His remarks are in rebuttal to  Adele Boucher Rymhs, President, Coalition for a Nuclear Free Alberta.

Murray Elston (Bruce Power) says:  “… We also have a project underway in Canada which will in fact store high level waste which is really coming from the spent fuel rods.  So we can deal with that.  We already have  ..  getting close .. to 50 years experience on how to manage those issues going forward.”

If anyone knows of the location of this project underway in Canada which will in fact store high level waste …   please let me know.

I am aware of the town in Ontario (Ignace), scroll down for more info on it.

The industry famously speaks in half-truths.  They have almost 50 years of experience on how to manage high-level radioactive waste?   Yes, but nothing that is successful.    And Yucca Mountain is shut down as a possible site for all the high-level radioactive waste accumulated in the U.S.. Yucca Mountain is number 8 on the list of places the U.S. has tried (all unsuccessfully) for disposal of their high-level radioactive waste.

High level radioactive waste disposal from other places, in Canada, is in-between the lines of various statements, whether about the “one” jurisdiction that will take the radioactive waste “for the whole group” or whether it’s the idea that storage in northern climates makes more sense.

Until Yucca Mountain got shut down as an option (in the first few months of the Obama Administration), after spending  $10 to $13 billion to develop, it was okay to store the waste in deserts.  Now it suddenly becomes the case that cold northern climates are necessary.

Before 1996, Finland’s Loviisa nuclear power plant shipped its spent nuclear fuel to Russia. Trucks carried the spent nuclear fuel destined for reprocessing from reactors to railcars. Rail casks and transport cars were leased from Russia. The last delivery to Russia took place in 1996. Current Finnish law forbids the export of nuclear waste.   (link no longer valid, ocrwm.doe.gov)

Maybe the decisions in Finland had something to do with ethics?   I don’t know.

Murray Elston (Vice-Pres Bruce Power) speaks of the Finnish experience in the video as an example of the successes of radioactive waste disposal.

He does not tell this part of the story:  the Finnish people thought they were building a deep geological repository to deal with the problem of their own radioactive waste.  They did not understand that they were to become the high-level radioactive waste depository for themselves AND for various European countries.

The third member of the CTV panel, in addition to Murray Elston and Adele  Boucher Rymhs is Harrie Vredenburg, Professor of Strategy, and Suncor Energy Chair in Competitive Strategy & Sustainable Development, Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary; and Member of the Alberta Minister of Energy’s Alberta Nuclear Power Expert Panel.

Regarding the panel :  Way to go Adele!!  Many thanks from all of us.

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

IGNACE ONTARIO AS SITE FOR HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL?

—– Original Message —–

From: Elaine Hughes

Subject: Re: Northern Ontario Town takes interest in nuclear waste storage

If you check the town’s plans, sounds like things are little more progressed than what Mayor Coultier would have us believe…?

See Township of Ignace (ON ) Strategic Plan 2009-2012 – Page 7:  Under Industry Attraction Initiatives to Diversify Economy states:

“Nuclear Waste Management:  Communication Maintained/Invitation issued to Proponents”

http://town.ignace.on.ca/files/%7BCB95F82A-F3F7-43DF-B5B2-450740A5CEFD%7DTownship%20of%20Ignace%20Strategic%20Plan%202009-2012.pdf

—– Original Message —–

From: Gordon Edwards

Sent: Monday, December 21, 2009 3:30 PM

Subject: Northern Ontario Town takes interest in nuclear waste storage

http://www.chroniclejournal.com/stories_local.php?id=227212

Town takes interest in nuclear waste storage

BRYAN MEADOWS, Thunder Bay Chronicle Journal, 11/27/2009

Ignace councillors want to know more about nuclear waste storage in the Canadian Shield.

And before he went on, Mayor Lionel Cloutier stressed during an interview Thursday that council is simply “investigating‘‘ the concept.

A delegation travelled to southern Ontario this month to attend the Nuclear Waste Management Organization‘s (NWMO) Learn More program, which makes information and funding available to help communities, organizations and individuals learn more about adaptive phased management of nuclear waste storage.

“I‘m not totally against it,‘‘ said Cloutier. “I just think it‘s worth investigating.”

The two-day fact-finding trip took councillors to the Kincardine area where spent nuclear fuel is being stored above ground near the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station.

“I want to stay out there as skeptical,” Cloutier said. “I want to ensure everything is proven (before committing to underground storage of nuclear waste). We need to know the safety of it and how they plan to do it.”

He said he realizes that the “whole issue is controversial. The not in my backyard syndrome prevails from attitudes of years gone by.”

He said he felt that way too, “but (his views) have changed somewhat after visiting the Kincardine facility firsthand.”

“Today when I hear nuclear, I think of medicine, cures for cancer, clean sources of energy for Ontario Power Generation plants,” he said, adding that if he could be assured of the safety of deep-underground waste storage, “my new vision is a world-class centre of excellence in proximity to our community, hundreds of new jobs, and billions of dollars (for) the Northwestern Ontario economy.”

But that‘s a long way off.

“First we need to know if we have the right terrain and bedrock,‘‘ said Cloutier. “That involves a lot of specialized work, and even going that far will create a great deal of economic activity for the entire region,” he said, noting town council would have the option of cancelling the investigation at any time.

NWMO spokesman Michael Krizanc said Thursday that Ignace is the first community “anywhere” to make arrangements to visit the Bruce nuclear plant and waste management facility under the Learn More program.

The program is the result of NWMO consultations launched in May with organizations and individuals. Comments and views gleaned from the sessions are being used to refine and confirm an open, transparent, fair and inclusive process for selecting a site for the long-term management of Canada‘s used nuclear fuel.

During their tour, the Ignace delegates visited the NWMO offices in Toronto and the Bruce plant, where they had an opportunity to meet with NWMO staff and learn about adaptive phased management.

Also explored were the deep geological repository project; NWMO‘s proposed process for selecting a site; the need for an open and transparent process and involvement of people in any community interested in the project; involvement of Aboriginal peoples; and the regulatory approval process of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission.

Krizanc said NWMO is interested in learning from communities the kind of information they might require as they gauge interest in hosting a geological repository once the siting process is launched.

“For us, it‘s a learning experience so we can better understand what kind of questions communities might (have),” Krizanc said.

The NWMO will not be looking for a site until the selection process has been finalized.

As for the next steps in Ignace‘s nuclear waste storage investigation, Cloutier said council plans to apply for funding from NWMO to hire an independent expert/consulting firm.

Consultants would help the community understand the long-term care of used nuclear fuel produced by Canada‘s nuclear reactors, he said, noting area residents would be fully engaged and consulted during development of any long-term vision or strategic planning exercise.

“There has been no commitment,‘‘ said Cloutier. “We‘re just putting it out there – to check it all out.”

Meanwhile, efforts by NWMO continue to refine its draft siting plan for long-term safe containment and isolation of Canada‘s used nuclear fuel.

The $16- to $24-billion project will involve development of a repository and a centre of expertise.

The document, Proposed Process for Selecting a Site, is available on the NWMO website.

The nuclear waste project will be implemented through a long-term partnership between the NWMO and a willing community. The system will be designed so that the waste will be continually monitored and retrievable for an extended period of time, NWMO says.

The centre of expertise will focus on technical, environmental and community studies related to the design and operation of deep geological repositories. It will become a hub for national and international scientific collaboration for many decades, NWMO says.

Construction of the facility will proceed after NWMO demonstrates that all safety, health and environmental protection standards set by regulatory authorities can be met or exceeded, it says.

Based in Toronto, NWMO was established in 2002 by Ontario Power Generation Inc., Hydro-Quebec and New Brunswick Power Corporation in accordance with the Nuclear Fuel Waste Act to assume responsibility for the long-term management of Canada‘s used nuclear fuel, which is created as a result of nuclear power production.

— – – – – –

Also, see http://www.activistmagazine.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1106&Itemid=143

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