Province lacks plan to deal with nuclear disaster: AG
Amherstburg and the surrounding Windsor-Essex region are among the most vulnerable should a nuclear incident happen with Fermi II in Monroe, Mich., a fact that keeps the town’s fire chief “up at night” and was highlighted in the annual report of Ontario’s auditor general.
The government’s lack of emergency management planning for municipalities across the province is a disaster waiting to happen, according to Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk.
The auditor general detailed a litany of provincial emergency management failures that included no traffic evacuation plans by the Ministry of Transportation, no
information technology program connected to municipalities and no iodide pills from the province for Amherstburg residents since the Fermi plant sits on the American side of the border.
“Some neighbouring U.S. states have nuclear power facilities that could require an emergency response within Ontario,” Lysyk wrote. “Yet Ontario municipalities that may be affected by the nuclear power facilities receive little assistance from the province ... even though such assistance is a requirement of the Provincial Nuclear Emergency Response Plan.”
The auditor general’s report “validates what we have been screaming about,” said Amherstburg Fire Chief Bruce Montone, who spoke to officials in the Auditor General’s office during preparation of the report.
“I’m glad someone with intestinal fortitude has put the issues on the table,” he said. “I’m worried for my community (due to a nuclear incident). In my 41 years, nothing has ever kept me up at night except this. I do not have the wherewithal to help my community the way I should.”
A nuclear incident at Fermi could affect up to 400,000 people across southwestern Ontario, including 22,000 in Amherstburg, yet there is no provincial traffic evacuation plan or sufficient organization from the province to deal with an incident.
Montone cited a lack of funding, equipment and training support from the provincial government to prepare for an incident. Residents of every other municipality in proximity to a nuclear facility have access to iodide pills, while the Windsor area continues to fight for the same treatment. The auditor general agreed. “Municipalities located near in-province nuclear power facilities receive assistance with the pre-distribution of thyroid blocking pills (KI pills), practice tests, and funding from the nuclear power companies to assist with their emergency management programs and response training,” Lysyk writes in her report.
“While the nearby U.S. power company provides some funding to one municipality, the municipality doesn’t think it’s adequate to support its nuclear emergency program. In addition, the municipality told us that EMO (Emergency Measures Ontario) also does not provide much support or assistance with regard to nuclear emergencies. As a result, it and other municipalities located near out-of-province nuclear facilities are left to fund much of their own emergency preparedness and response activities, even though offsite nuclear emergencies are the province’s responsibility.”
Montone said Kincardine receives $105,000 in funding annually from the province for equipment and training for being near the Bruce nuclear site.
But because Fermi, which launched operation in 1988, is across the border, residents in the Amherstburg and Essex County area are ignored, he said. The nuclear plant is 16 kilometres away from the heart of Amherstburg.
“The province for several years keeps putting us off,” Montone said. “Somebody needs to help us. We are not asking for paradise, just the minimum level of support in event of a nuclear emergency.”
The Ministry of Correctional Services and Community Safety in the auditor general’s report responded to the criticism by noting it was in the process of updating its provincial Nuclear Emergency Response Plan, which will hopefully develop “site-specific implementing agreements” with ministries, Ontario and U.S. nuclear power companies and affected municipalities.
Regarding a potential nuclear incident in this region, “government mismanagement” is unacceptable, especially given the recent 2011 incident in Fukushima, Japan, where 150,000 people were displaced and it’s anticipated up to 700 could eventually die, said Shawn Patrick Stencil, senior energy strategist for Greenpeace Canada.
“The auditor general’s report shows government has neglected its responsibilities to protect the people of Windsor-Essex,” he said. “Fermi has been a risk for decades, yet there are no standards in place similar to what an area like the GTA gets.
“We need the ministry to take its responsibility seriously, be properly staffed, be prepared for emergencies and provide (funding) support for Windsor-Essex. Right now, it’s forced on the local tax base and that’s not fair.”
Ontario has three nuclear power facilities and 18 operating reactors, which makes it the largest nuclear jurisdiction in North America and one of the largest in the world.
Given the proliferation of nuclear energy, government should be meeting “world-class standards” in terms of preparation of an emergency, Stencil said.
Within Lysyk’s 256-page report, 46 pages were dedicated to emergency management concerns with more than a dozen recommendations for immediate improvements to reduce vulnerabilities following floods, ice storms, health epidemics, prolonged power outages and nuclear incidents.
“The province’s overall state of readiness to respond to emergencies needs significant improvement,” she said, “in order to minimize the harm or damage that may result.”
Oversight of emergency management in Ontario is the responsibility of the Cabinet Committee on Emergency Management, however, the committee hasn’t met for several years, Lysyk said.
That’s left potential devastating impacts from climate change, cyber attacks or terrorists unaddressed in terms of a co-ordinated emergency management response, she said.
Lysyk’s report further criticized how the Health Ministry has a “stockpile of over 26,000 pallets of supplies for medical emergencies,” including respirators, face shields, needles, disinfectant wipes, disposable thermometers and other items, but “more than 80 per cent of these supplies have reached their expiry date.”
In my 41 years, nothing has ever kept me up at night except this. I do not have the wherewithal to help my community the way I should.