In the town of Deep River, Ontario, the hands of the atomic clock are ticking. Located on its territory, very close by, more than a million tons of nuclear waste lie dormant, waiting to be buried a kilometer from the Ottawa River. Seven months after the Canadian Nuclear Safety Tribunal gave the project the green light, local residents are tearing each other apart. Last of three texts.
Despite warnings from its main advisor on radiation protection, the Quebec government still does not want to say whether it is for or against the project to bury nuclear waste at Chalk River.
Since it is located in Ontario, the near-surface waste management facility (FSWM) that Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) wants to build falls under the Canadian government, the office of the Minister of the Environment, the Fight against Climate Change, Wildlife and Parks, Benoit Charette, argued when questioned by The Duty at the end of July.
“It is the responsibility of the federal government to take into account the concerns surrounding the project […] in Chalk River and to provide all necessary guarantees to ensure the protection of populations and the environment,” wrote a press attaché for the Minister of the Coalition avenir Québec.
For several years, however, the Quebec government’s main advisor on protection against radioactivity has been discreetly cautious about the project.
In a document dated 2022, the National Radiation Protection Officer of Quebec, an independent entity responsible for advising the Ministry of Health and Social Services on such issues, broadly highlights the “risks” associated with the extraction of contaminated soils that will ultimately end up in the IGDPS. “It is clear that these activities will disrupt the hydrogeological balance in addition to presenting a probable source of contamination of equipment, the environment and people,” the document reads.
“Since these activities are outside the IGDPS project, they are not the subject of this project analysis. However, objectively, they represent a much higher radiological risk than the IGDPS project itself,” it continues.
The Manager also questions “the safety culture at LNC”, pointing out a previous proposal for the project which did not meet its standards since it also provided for the burial of “intermediate” intensity waste with that of “low” intensity.
Due to the risks associated with the IGDPS, over a hundred Quebec municipalities located downstream of the Ottawa River, such as Gatineau and the cities of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal, have issued notices of opposition to the project in recent years. In the National Assembly, Québec solidaire is also among the groups that are opposed to the project.
Even though the Quebec government has not officially positioned itself, this year it asked Ottawa to “respond [aux] “concerns” of the population. “At this time, we are of the opinion that the federal government has still not fulfilled this obligation,” Mr. Charette’s office agreed in an exchange of text messages.