Thunder Bay council's nuclear vote gets mixed reaction

IGNACE – Diana Schmidt is happy with the resolution Thunder Bay city council passed Monday night on the proposed long-term storage of nuclear waste in Northwestern Ontario.

Trucking accidents occur every day in Canada, the Ignace resident said, so it seems inevitable that eventually a truck carrying nuclear waste to a deep geological repository west of her township would crash.

“They say it’s going to be safe,” she said. “They say they have a system to keep it safe.

“But they haven’t done it yet. They haven’t proven it. They don’t know.”

Fellow Ignace resident Roger Dufault, however, said it sounds like Thunder Bay councillors “are not properly educated” on how spent nuclear fuel would be hauled to the repository.

Dufault, who chaired Ignace’s nuclear willingness committee until recently, said the system has many safety features built in and has been thoroughly tested.

The resolution, which city council passed with one opposed and one abstention, directs city administration to review current standards regarding the transportation of dangerous goods within Thunder Bay.

Anti-nuclear groups contend that the hauling of nuclear waste through the city would present an unacceptable risk to public safety.

The resolution as amended Monday night also directs administration to draft a letter “urging the Nuclear Waste Management Organization to pursue the option of managing used nuclear fuel waste closer to the reactor stations where the waste has been generated and is currently stored, thereby avoiding transportation of nuclear waste in Thunder Bay.”

Environment North member Mary Veltri said after the vote that city council “has stepped up and shown leadership” and “addressed its responsibility to speak up” for Thunder Bay residents.

Vince Ponka, regional spokesperson for the industry-funded NWMO, had a different take.

“The resolution just asks that we consider (a site closer to where nuclear waste is produced) as well as the one in Northwestern Ontario, and that is happening,” he said.

Monday’s discussion shows that the NWMO has some work to do and must “make a priority” of “connecting with the city and making sure” that councillors have the information they need, he added.

The deputation contained “a lot of errors,” Ponka said.

For example, he said, the deputation asserted that there is no safe level of radiation – but “our whole world has radiation” that doesn’t harm us.

Ignace, a township of about 1,200 along the Trans-Canada Highway, is a potential host community for a deep geological repository proposed by the NWMO.

A site west of Ignace is, along with a location in southwestern Ontario, on the organization’s list of two finalists for the underground waste facility.

The NWMO has said it will choose a site by year-end.

The Township of Ignace released an official statement on the Thunder Bay resolution Monday afternoon.

“We appreciate the voices and positions of other communities with respect to the storage of used nuclear fuel in the Northwest,” it said.

“We also understand that this is a $26-billion project that will assist all of Northwestern Ontario, including Thunder Bay and many other surrounding communities, in creating much needed employment opportunities, housing and infrastructure and many other direct and indirect opportunities for business for the people of Northwestern Ontario.”

The statement, emailed to Newswatch by Ignace spokesperson Jake Pastore, also noted a “very strong mandate” from Ignace residents and property owners who in late April voted 77 per cent in favour of the community continuing as a potential host community for the nuclear repository.