Burying Nuclear Waste in Ontario?

There has been much concern and mobilization to stop the plan to bury low and intermediate level nuclear waste next to Lake Huron. But what about the high level nuclear waste? Industry hopes to bury it too, they just don’t know where yet. Currently, there are 13 communities in Ontario and Saskatchewan involved in the ‘Learn More’ process with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO), including one just NW of Toronto. The final promise is a $20-billion dollar construction project to bury at least 4.6 million used fuel bundles.

There are significant critiques about burying nuclear waste, and a history of failures for the industry. This forum presents frontline voices who have been resisting both the creation of nuclear waste, and the burial.

Moderated by Angela Bischoff. Presentations by:

• Lorraine Rekmans is a long-time advocate for environmental health, sustainable forestry and Indigenous rights, and against uranium mining. She co-edited This is My Homeland, which is a testimony of the impacts of uranium mining on the lives of the indigenous people at Serpent River First Nation.
• Brennain Lloyd is a community organizer and public interest researcher and writer with Northwatch, a Northern Ontario coalition and critical voice in the public debate over how to most effectively safeguard highly radioactive nuclear wastes.
• Chris Peabody is a Brockton (Walkerton) Town Councillor, organizer and outspoken critic of proposals to site a Deep Geological Repository (DGR) for high-level nuclear waste. He was recently elected to his 5th term as a councillor, and has taught high school in Walkerton for 28 years.
• Angela Bischoff is the Outreach Director for the Ontario Clean Air Alliance, an NGO working for an end to Ontario’s nuclear reliance, to be replaced with 100% renewable electricity.

Recorded in Toronto, 7 February 2015.