Bruce Davidson
The front-page of the Ottawa Citizen reports, “Walkerton, the Ontario town known for contaminated water that killed seven and sickened 2,300 residents 11 years ago, is investigating whether to take all of Canada’s waste uranium fuel, forever. In May of 2000, the town’s drinking water was contaminated with E. coli bacteria from farm run-off and the name Walkerton has since become a byword for lethal pollution caused by human carelessness. The town has since amalgamated with two nearby townships under the name Brockton.”
“A cautious announcement says Brockton isn’t officially in the running (for a permanent disposal site for the spent fuel from 40 years of nuclear power generation). It has entered only the first of a nine-step process that could take 10 years, committed for now only to ‘learning more’ about the waste disposal.”
“Saugeen Shores, a town even closer to the Bruce nuclear plant, has also taken this same tentative first step. Mayor Mike Smith of Saugeen said last week that the nuclear facility was a natural fit for the 12,000-person community, which is about 30 kilometres from the Bruce site.”
“The fuel is now stored in containers above ground at the reactor sites. The final disposal is designed to be some 500 metres below ground, and must be in a location where that depth is completely sealed off from surface water and well water by natural geology.”
“Concerned Walkerton Citizens warns against accepting the nuclear waste too quickly.” Spokesperson Bruce Davidson says, “It’s rather interesting that if you tried to put a windmill anywhere you might be tarred and feathered. But let’s bury the nuclear waste?”
For a Council of Canadians blog from Sunday noting a Canadian Press report on Brockton and Saugeen Shores – both Lake Huron communities – considering the nuclear waste dump, please go to http://canadians.org/blog/?p=12708.
