thoughts on exclusion of transportation, safety, weaknesses, wartime vulnerability and costs of DGR

There are many questions regarding the safety of the DGR; stability and permeability of mined storage caverns filled with highly radioactive nuclear waste in the pluton containing the Deep Geological Repository (DGR), initially monitoring it and then abandoning it underground for an eternity, glossing over the surface handling facilities and storage of nuclear waste before it goes underground. How would the proposed DGR affect us?

Obviously, the safety of nuclear transport would be most concerning to all who live near the highways. Just recently we had an accident on January 15, 2026 at Landsdowne, Ontario. Almost daily, there are non-nuclear transport trucks accidents in Northern Ontario. Ominously, transportation was excluded from the DGR project description. What about the downstream communities beyond Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation? Which begs the question, what was the real reason for this gross exclusion and why did the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) accept starting the DGR, Impact Assessment (IA) without it? For the ratepayers and taxpayers, how much is this DGR and the nuclear industry in Canada costing us. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) gives us old figures, not an accurate accounting, since it seems transportation - doesn't count!

Also consider the radioactive plume from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico on February 14, 2014. The industry reported the explosion was started by kitty litter which is made from bentonite clay. While the American nuclear industry and government downplayed this, what would happen if there was an underground or radioactive surface fire from the the Revell Lake DGR? The same clay, while hopefully from a different supplier than American one, will also be used in this DGR with much higher underground temperatures than the WIPP.

Based on reports from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), serious deficiencies in the fire protection program at Whiteshell Laboratories were identified in 2023 leading to a temporary halt of non-essential work, a "below expectations" rating in 2024–2025, and subsequent remedial actions. Concernedly, CNL, now a mostly American company financed by Canadian taxpayers in a Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated (GoCo) contract (cost plus), was only given a tap on the hand.

As reported by the CBC on September 26, 2017, the huge wildfire in Fort McMurray caused air pollution to spike as far away as the New England states, more than 4,000 kilometres away. In summer, we now check for smoke in the air before going out. Soon, we may need a geiger counter. Radioactive fallout from the DGR would be determined by wind conditions and geography. Westerly winds would extend contamination areas, especially low lying elevations like Lake Superior. Are the Nuclear Detonation (NUDET) maps that were available to Emergency Measures Organizations (EMO) in the 1960's still around?

The American controlled CNL may well be the operator of this DGR. The CNSC is seen as a rubber stamp for the nuclear industry. Will they license this project? What are the safer and cheaper alternatives closer to the nuclear plants? Can they be relied upon to assure public safety now and for the contaminating lifespan of this project for thousands or millions of years depending on the radio nuclide? What are the long term monitoring and preparedness for the underground and surface (including handling, repackaging and storage) operations? Will the 5.9 billion bundles of highly radioactive waste be quickly hauled north, once the project is approved and left to sit on the ground, like at Chalk River, awaiting the DGR to be built or perhaps cancelled due to high costs. Like the Hanford nuclear site in the United States, a huge sacrificial area in the making.

How well is the nuclear industry prepared for drone or missile strikes and foreign invasion? How are reactors and DGR's made bombproof? Pete Hoekstra, U.S. President Donald Trump's ambassador to Canada gave us a veiled threat of increased flights over Canada by American F35 fighter jets if we don't purchase them from the Americans at the new inflated prices. Canada has NORAD continental defence pact with the United States. Canada is looking at Sweden’s Gripen jets. In the event of a fight, nuclear installations all have the potential for dirty bombs. That is why Russia moved in to quickly capture them in the Ukraine. Any invader would do the same here.

Another question, besides safety, is the enormous cost of this DGR (26 billion dollars, 2020 estimate by NWMO). By the early 2040's when the DGR receives it first waste, a conservative projected estimate would be more than $50 billion dollars (plus the transport and handling). To put this in perspective, our present deficit is about $80 billion dollars. Unfortunately, since there doesn't seem to be any requirement for a business plan for this DGR, and the study of alternatives and transportation are omitted from this IA, our politicians will be committing the public and ratepayers to a future where they don't know what the true cost and danger of this DGR will be? Nuclear ideology and profit puts ideology over safety. A horrendous legacy to leave our children.

The public comment period ends February 4^th, 2026. The radioactivity will last an eternity.