The Decision is Coming…..
In the near future, the CNSC ( Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission ) will deliver its decision regarding BWXT’s license renewal and pelleting approval in Peterborough. It is likely that this decision will involve renewing the current license despite an ongoing problem with unexplained significant increases in beryllium in the areas around this plant, including Prince of Wales school playground. Beryllium is an extremely toxic and carcinogenic mineral that some occupational health experts consider to be the most dangerous of industrial chemicals.
Residents of Peterborough should also expect that BWXT’s license will be expanded to include pelleting as BWXT moves Toronto’s unwanted nuclear fuel production to downtown Peterborough, 25 metres from Prince of Wales Public School. Approval of the manufacture of uranium dioxide pellets will occur despite a record number of intervenors voicing their opposition - more intervenors than those presenting at the license renewals of Pickering, Darlington or Bruce nuclear power facilities!
CARN’s pessimism is not unfounded. CNSC staff have already recommended to commission members that pelleting be permitted despite serious issues with the monitoring of emissions at this facility. There has been only ONE rejection of a class I nuclear facility’s licence in the CNSC’s history - and that resulted in the firing of the CNSC president who recommended the closure of an unsafe facility.
How Will it Affect You?
The Beryllium and Uranium released by BWXT is a part of Peterborough's Toxic Industrial Agenda. Peterborough City Council, MP, MPP as well as the Medical Officer of Health are failing our community,
The Beryllium and Uranium released by BWXT are toxic to the children who attend Prince of Wales School and everyone who lives in, works in and travels through the city of Peterborough.
The Beryllium and Uranium released by BWXT will continue to harm Peterborough for generations to come. We just lost the Canadian Canoe Museum Expansion due to industrial pollution and those clean-up costs are being shifted to taxpayers. Beryllium and uranium can be added to the toxic legacy that has migrated to Little Lake and forced the partial clean up of the GE site.
The Beryllium and Uranium released by BWXT will cost our community. The taxpayer bill to clean up regulated nuclear activity in Port Hope now exceeds $2-Billion (with a B). The Port Hope clean up started nearly 20 years ago and is currently being reviewed because there is more radioactive material and associated toxic metals than anticipated.
The CNSC has NOT safeguarded our community, and we may expect more of the same. By failing to look for trends in soil beryllium and claiming the Peterborough facility to be safe when its own data indicated it wasn’t, the CNSC failed in its role as regulator. We should not expect that the CNSC will safeguard an expanded BWXT facility.
Peterborough residents can expect that approval of this facility will likely mean enriched uranium will also be processed in Peterborough. As BWXT’s Darlington and Pickering contracts wind down (Pickering is scheduled to close in 2024/2025, and it represents close to 50% of BWXT’s nuclear fuel sales), BWXT will be looking for new markets. These markets will include the unproven small nuclear reactors (small modular reactors (SMR’s)), championed by the federal liberal party and Maryam Monsef. None of the SMR designs currently uses the “natural” uranium that the Peterborough medical officer of health describes as “relatively safe”, whatever that means. The medical officer of health goes on to say “There are many types of nuclear installations around the world including those which manufacture and use enriched uranium which is much more likely to have an impact on health than the natural uranium used in manufacturing processes in Peterborough.” While one would expect the medical officer of health to stand up for the city in the event that BWXT attempts to bring enriched fuel to this facility, she didn’t say a word when GE applied to process enriched uranium in Peterborough in 2011. What you can count on is that BWXT would not undertake the expense of moving its Toronto nuclear facility without anticipating future markets - markets that only use enriched uranium.
Are You Prepared?
CARN is prepared to fight for and defend the health of Peterborough residents.
CARN members have been fighting against nuclear industrial pollution in Peterborough for more than a decade. Our current campaign began more than two years ago and has seen hundreds of community members present to Peterborough City Council, the CNSC Public Hearing, demonstrating at pickets. The support we have received at each of these actions has been very heartening.
What Can You Do?
Write to CARN to get on our mailing list. Write to your MP and MPP to tell them that it is unacceptable that industrial zoning dating to the 1800’s overrides common sense and public safety. Tell your politicians that Toronto’s unwanted nuclear facility doesn’t belong in Peterborough. It doesn’t belong in a residential neighbourhood next to a public school! SHOUT ABOUT IT!