For six months of the year, I and my extended family reside 8 kilometres from the Trans Canada Highway (Highway 17 in NW Ontario) and the adjacent main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway. 30 kilometres from our residence is the proposed site of the Deep Geological Repository (DGR) for the disposal of high level radioactive nuclear waste. Such waste is proposed to be transported from it's source some 1,600 kilometres to the East.

I therefore have a significant vested interest in the plan put forth by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO). Setting aside the question of experimenting with burying this radioactive waste and waiting to see if the experiment is successful, I believe that an assessment of the plan by an objective third party must include a thorough and comprehensive review of the transportation of the waste to the DGR site and the above ground unpackaging and repackaging of the waste before it is dumped into the DGR.

The waste will be transported on Canada's only trans national highway. A significant road incident would give rise to a major economic disaster in terms of the movement of goods and services across our country, not to mention a huge inconvenience to millions of travellers. The issue of contamination of the surrounding air and water and danger to  population goes without saying.

Consideration should be given to a burial site in closer proximity to the source and away from major road and rail corridors and population.

The project deserves a full Impact Assessment and a Public Hearing.