CBC reports, “The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission has given NB Power clearance to refuel and restart the Point Lepreau nuclear generating station later this year. The commission has also granted Lepreau a five-year operating licence, but attached two conditions in its decision, released Friday. NB Power must improve Lepreau’s firefighting capability, which the commission called substandard, and conduct updated earthquake risk assessment testing around the plant using modern techniques.”
“NB Power had objected to having to do updated earthquake risk assessments around Lepreau during hearings held late last year, arguing the area had been fully evaluated during the 1980s. However, the commission sided with opponents of the plant who argued the earthquake and tsunami disaster at Fukushima illustrated the need for an updated review.”
In early-December, after the Saint John chapter presented its concerns to the CNSC hearings, the Telegraph-Journal reported, “Paula Tippett from the Saint John chapter of the Council of Canadians…opposes the restart of Point Lepreau for several reasons, including environmental concerns. However Tippett also cited seismic activity brought about by hydro-fracking in the exploration for natural gas in the province. ‘We want to make sure studies into earthquake activity around injection wells are looked at closely,’ she said.”
In its written submission, the chapter stated, “(We are) opposed to the relicensing of the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station. …The devastation of the Japanese Pacific Ocean fishery by the Fukushima accidents makes us realize how vital our fishery is to the food supply and the danger an operating nuclear plant at Point Lepreau poses to it. …We are concerned about the unsolved problem of nuclear waste. …With the refurbishment, we have been told, the quantities of radioactive waste have been found to be higher than expected, so some is being sent to Oak Ridge, Tennessee to be burned to make it smaller, and sent back here as radioactive ashes to be stored. Some low-level radioactive waste has even been sent to the local landfill. We do not agree with these decisions.”
The Council of Canadians rejects nuclear power because it poses an unacceptable risk to people and the environment. Our statement on nuclear power can be read in full at http://canadians.org/energy/documents/NuclearStatement-Oct08.pdf.
