I am writing to express my concern about the Nuclear Waste Management Organization’s proposed deep geological repository for nuclear fuel waste which the NWMO is proposing to construct and operate between Ignace and Dryden in northwestern Ontario.

First of all, I was unaware of the existence of the Deep Geological Repository Project dealing with movement of high-level nuclear waste; it was only by accident that I stumbled upon it on facebook and began to search for more information on my own.  Such a massive project with such huge implications for a majority of communities across Ontario, the rest of Eastern Canada, and for the future should not be planned “under the radar” with minimal effort on the part of the proponents to inform and engage the public.

Public awareness and engagement should never be left to chance on a project with such serious implications for current and future generations. Outreach should be planned, widespread, involve all sectors of society, and be commensurate with the seriousness of the potential impacts. A one-month window for comment on such a project is ridiculously short. Such shoddiness does not inspire confidence that any other aspect of the project will be done right – and this is a project which must be absolutely fool-proof in its delivery to protect all of us.

The Initial Project Description (IPD) which NWMO has submitted for comment has a number of shortcomings, the most vital to me being the omission of the long-haul transportation of these highly radioactive wastes on highways and one assumes, eventually by rail, through a myriad of communities.

The IPD states:

“The Project does not include:

• transportation of used fuel from reactor sites to the Project beyond primary and secondary access roads at the Project site, as this is regulated separately under CNSC certification and uses existing transportation infrastructure”

Transportation from the nuclear stations to the proposed burial site in northwestern Ontario must be included in the assessment of this project as it is integral to the project.

I live one kilometre from highway 11 in Gravenhurst, which means that 2-3 trucks a day for 50 years will definitely have an impact on me, my community and our health and safety. It is unlikely that the containers which will be used to transport the nuclear waste will prevent all radiation from escaping into the environment as these vehicles travel though our communities, as their drivers stop for a bite to eat at local eateries, or as they idle in traffic. We do know though that no level of exposure to radioactivity is completely safe.

Worse still is the potential for vehicle accidents with these trucks (or derailments of trains). This year alone highway 11 was closed for multiple vehicle accidents, transport overturns, and dangerous driving conditions. The likelihood of such accidents is only expected to worsen as climate change impacts increase. Should one of these trucks flip or be involved in a serious collision, the highway and a large area around will be closed to contain any radioactivity. What does that then do to our emergency services and evacuation plans which depend on the highways as our main and often only routes.

The two main highway routes to northern Ontario run through my riding of Parry Sound Muskoka, highway 11 being one and highway 400 being the other. I am also alarmed that these trucks will be travelling many miles on secondary two-lane highways further north where vehicle accidents are even more likely to occur.

These are just a few of the issues which I see with transportation of nuclear wastes to the deep depository site. Why would NWMO choose to leave out of its project description this piece of the project which will have the greatest impact on population centres throughout Ontario far from the depository site?

Transportation must be included in this assessment since long-haul transportation is integral to this project and has never been assessed for a project of this massive scale. There has never been a project of this size anywhere in Canada or the world which transports such amounts of high-level nuclear waste, over such long distances, and over such a long period of time. In the past the nuclear industry has always acknowledged that transportation is part of this project, so why is it excluded in this IPD?

I am requesting that this project be the subject of a full impact assessment including a public hearing, and that the Impact Assessment Agency ensure that the public is able to participate in a meaningful way through each step of the process.