The CNSC has announced a decision on BWXT Canada’s application for license extension and permission to move uranium dioxide pelleting from Toronto to Peterborough. The decision allows for a 10 year extension of BWXT’s current license and expands the license to permit the pelleting of tonnes of radioactive uranium dioxide pellets 25 metres from Prince of Wales Public School.
BWXT Canada is a subsidiary of BWX Technologies of Lynchburg, Virginia. BWXT is a manufacturer of missile and reactor components for the American military and produces enriched uranium nuclear fuels for small nuclear reactors (SMR’s) such as those championed by Peterborough MP Maryam Monsef’s Liberal party under Justin Trudeau.
Despite a record number of citizens in Peterborough voicing their opposition to a license change, the CNSC has delivered to BWXT exactly what it wanted - a 10 year license and permission to begin pelleting in Peterborough. This decision comes as no surprise to members of CARN.
The decision allows pelleting of uranium oxide to move from a residential area in downtown Toronto to a residential area in downtown Peterborough. The removal of the BWXT facility from Toronto’s Davenport riding was encouraged by Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz. Ms Dzerowicz’s opposition to BWXT’s license renewal in Davenport cited the anxiety that BWXT’s Toronto pelleting facility caused her constituents. Ms Dzerowicz’s Liberal colleague - MP Maryam Monsef has remained silent about the effects of this facility on her community and the potential damage this facility may do to Peterborough.
In an interesting precedent, one commission member has dissented from his CNSC colleagues. As a radiologist, Dr. Sandor Demeter is the only commission member with a training in biology and community health. The remaining 4 commission members are engineers, with 3 of the 4 having worked in the nuclear industry. In the written decision, Dr. Demeter was also the only commission member who acknowledged that a school with a vulnerable population 25 metres from a nuclear facility is not acceptable: “BWXT has not provided adequate justification for such an eventual transfer, and that the question is not whether pelleting is safe in Peterborough, but rather, at what location is it ‘safer’ to pellet. Holding all else constant, the significant difference between BWXT’s Toronto and Peterborough facilities is the presence of an elementary school (i.e. Prince of Wales Public School), with an identifiable vulnerable population, immediately adjacent to BWXT’s operations in Peterborough.” In his minority decision, Dr Demeter acknowledges that the ALARA principle (As Low As Reasonably Achievable) must apply in Peterborough: “On social trust, the proximity of the school and the concerns from local residents are also predominant factors for not allowing pelleting in Peterborough.”
Dr. Demeter acknowledges the precautionary principle, noting “moving the pelleting operations, adding radiation doses and UO2 air and effluent emissions in a site which has an adjacent vulnerable population, is not acting in an abundance of precaution.” CARN remains concerned that Peterbrough’s own Medical Officer of Health, a trained physician like Dr Demeter, was not among the many intervenors who raised the precautionary principle despite a legal requirement to prevent health hazards under the Health Protection and Promotion Act. The precautionary principle cannot be ignored, and our Medical Officer of Health should prioritize children’s health and interests.
The CNSC’s decision has been made despite continuing questions about rising beryllium levels around the BWXT facility. Under the CNSC’s Independent Environmental Monitoring Program, beryllium levels have risen dramatically in six years. These increases reflect depositions of airborne beryllium - which is a Category I carcinogen and dangerous in extremely small quantities. The soundness of the CNSC’s monitoring program was cast into doubt when a group of Trent University faculty showed that the CNSC had failed to acknowledge dangerous increases and failed to perform a statistical analysis of its own results. The failure of CNSC staff to recognize that rising beryllium represented a serious risk to school children forced another round of testing that yielded further increases and several Trent faculty again found fault in the CNSC’s methodology. CNSC staff were ordered to find the source of the rising beryllium levels. They have failed to do so. This has not prevented the CNSC from issuing a 10 year license with an expansion to permit pelleting.
With the continued promotion of small nuclear reactors by the nuclear industry and funding from the federal Liberal Party under Justin Trudeau, it can be expected that small nuclear reactors will be a future part of Canada’s energy infrastructure. At this point, ALL SMR designs submitted to the CNSC for license approval use enriched uranium. Today’s decision does not preclude BWXT (an industry leader in the manufacture of fuels for SMR’s) from requesting permission to process enriched uranium at this facility. If this is the case, Peterborough residents may again expect that the CNSC will ignore pleas from concerned parents and neighbours of this facility. Peterborough residents may again expect that the officials charged with keeping this community safe will ignore the precautionary principle in favour of the nuclear industry.
