Jim Coffey knows the risk. For decades he has kayaked the most demanding rapids in the world’s rivers. “My job is to measure the risk and the rewards,” he summarizes a few strides from the Ottawa River, where his whitewater adventure business is based. And anyone who has spent “half his life” immersed in this tributary fears that a new risk will weigh on his beloved river, without any associated benefit.
From his small town of Mansfield-et-Pontefract, in the Pontiac region of Quebec, you just have to go up the Ottawa River a few tens of kilometers to reach the nuclear facilities of Chalk River, in Ontario. This site, whose main reactor was shut down in 2018, is the epicenter of nuclear research in Canada, employing 2,400 people. And he has radioactive waste in his arms.
The private consortium that manages these federal facilities has been preparing for six years a project to permanently bury the low-level radioactive waste that has been temporarily stored at Chalk River for decades. The Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) proposal consists of a surface “installation”, that is to say a pile of multiple layers of gravel, sand, rocks and geomembranes enclosing this waste forever.
“It doesn’t smell good,” said Mr. Coffey. The mound that will contain the waste will be just 1.2 kilometers from the Ottawa River – far too short a distance, according to this contractor who has been involved for years against the project. “If it’s really the best place, the best plan, and it’s safe for everyone, the promoters have not communicated it clearly”, judges the sportsman in rain boots.
He is not the only one of this opinion. Many mayors of Pontiac, the Quebec region that directly faces Chalk River, have recently reiterated their opposition to the project, whose construction could begin next winter. Next week will open public hearings led by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), which will then take a few months before approving or not the project.
Waiting waste
At Chalk River, a forest and a power line are located where the radioactive waste repository is to be built. The chosen site is quite steep. From the top of the ridge, you can see the Ottawa River, which indeed seems very close. The waste storage would however be on the opposite side of the mound, which descends away from the river.
“There is at least 40 meters of difference in altitude between the base of the proposed facilities and the floodplain of the river,” argues Meggan Vickerd, project manager for CNL, from the top of the bucolic hill dedicated to transform into a tomb for one million cubic meters of low-level radioactive waste. The planned lifetime is 550 years. The filling of the deposit must be spread over 50 years.
Developers are well aware that the mound’s proximity to the river worries local residents. They reply that it is not the distance that counts. Groundwater running beneath the chosen site takes more than seven years to travel to the river, leaving plenty of time to react if contamination occurs, they say. The project also includes a plant that will treat wastewater during the five decades of active use of the site.
Not far from there, hundreds of metal containers have been waiting for years in a vacant lot. They contain low-level radioactive waste destined for eventual final disposal. This waste includes, for example, equipment from nuclear power plants, contaminated soil, and scrap from the production of medical isotopes.
A large part of the waste to be buried will also come from buildings to be demolished. Very close to the retired NRX and NRU nuclear reactors, workers are busy dismantling an old chemical laboratory which has already suffered fires. The structure is likely contaminated. Each piece of liner is numbered so that it is disposed of according to its level of radioactivity.
“What we’re doing couldn’t be more different from destroying with a wrecking ball: we’re deconstructing our buildings,” says Kristan Schruder, who is responsible for decommissioning at LNC. Already, since 2015, more than a hundred built structures have been brought down.
Founded in the midst of World War II, the Chalk River facilities also store “historic waste” from before the 1960s. . Two high fences prevent deer from rummaging around.
Lack of confidence
Lynn Jones and Ole Hendrickson’s cabin is on tiny Morrison Island, which bisects the Ottawa River near Pembroke. At the bottom of their land opens between some trees a majestic view of the river. With the tip of his finger, M.me Jones points to the opposite bank in the distance: “Chalk River is about there. »
The couple have been involved since the 1980s to protect the health of residents near these nuclear facilities. Prior to his retirement, Mr.me Jones worked in public health. And Mr. Hendrickson, a soil scientist, worked at a federal research facility in Petawawa. They are now worried about the turn taken by the Chalk River nuclear waste disposal project.
“We all agree that it should be cleaned up, but we disagree that the waste should be put in a mound,” says Ms.me Jones in his dining room.
Another possible option is that of storing the waste in a surface concrete enclosure, a technology often favored in Europe. The company, however, rejected it, because this infrastructure is supposed to be “more vulnerable to seismic events” and because its cost, for its entire life cycle, is estimated to be five times that of the mound.
“They offer to dispose of this waste in the cheapest way possible, criticizes Mme Jones. Taxpayers therefore pay top dollar, but will end up with poor quality infrastructure that could leak. »
Mr. Hendrickson, a quiet man with a white ponytail, is part of an “Environmental Stewardship Council” of representatives from communities and organizations concerned with environmental issues in Chalk River. The group meets three times a year and can question the administrators of the nuclear centre.
“I keep asking for reports. I’ve been trying to figure out what’s really going on there for 20 years, but it’s so non-transparent,” said the retired scientist, who represents Concerned Citizens of Renfrew County. He is particularly concerned about historic waste: will there be any unpleasant surprises in these nuclear cemeteries? If intermediate-level radioactive waste is found there, will it still end up in the surface repository?
In response to these concerns, CNL assures that all legacy waste will be accurately characterized and that only low-level waste will end up in the new infrastructure. More hazardous waste will be stored separately.
Well-attended public hearings
Next week, M.me Jones will be one of dozens of intervenors in Pembroke who will speak out on the waste management project in public hearings organized by the CNSC.
Interest in the project extends well beyond the Renfrew County and Pontiac regions: potential contamination could affect the drinking water of millions of people along the Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers . In 2018, the Montreal Metropolitan Community spoke out against the pproject — she will testify at the hearings next Monday.
CNL maintains that there is “absolutely no concern” to have with the quality of drinking water from the Ottawa River, whose radioactive contamination is several orders of magnitude below regulatory thresholds. From the small sandy point that serves as the base of his rafting business, Jim Coffey hopes for nothing more than to be convinced – but he promises to be heard by then.