NDP alone in opposing $2.4B nuclear waste bunker

Of the three main parties vying for office in Ontario’s spring election, only the NDP has spoken out against building a $2.4-billion nuclear waste bunker near Lake Huron.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the idea of burying radioactive waste so close to a major freshwater source worries her and, should she be elected on June 7, would look to intervene against the project. “As a party, we’re not in favour of having that facility in that location,” Horwath said recently on the campaign trail. “It’s something that we’re quite concerned about. We know that other leaders, both in Canada and across the border in the States, have sent significant letters of concern and protest to the federal government in regard to the siting of this facility.” Ontario Power Generation argues the deep geological repository at the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station near Kincardine, is by far the best and safest option for permanently storing the low- and intermediate-level toxic waste that has been stored for years above ground. The utility maintains the stable rock would ensure no radiation leakage for centuries. However, scores of communities on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border have expressed alarm at the proposal. They maintain the consequences of contaminating the all-important freshwater source is far too great to take. The waste bunker, first proposed more than a decade ago, is awaiting final approval from the federal government. Ottawa has repeatedly stalled since an environmental review panel gave its approval three years ago.

Most recently, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna demanded the power utility come back with clear and unequivocal endorsement from affected First Nations, who have made it clear they are in no hurry to do that. For her part, Premier Kathleen Wynne, suggested the province has no role to play in the approval process.

“It’s a federal issue,” Wynne said. “They are dealing with municipalities, and we need to let that process roll out.”

The repository plan calls for hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of radioactive waste — stored for years at the Bruce nuclear station site above ground — would be buried 680 metres deep. OPG has warned the cost of the project could rise by billions if delayed significantly.