RADIOACTIVE WASTE CONUNDRUM

Today's Waterloo Region Record carries the following Opinion piece from Thomas Walkom titled "Radioactive waste conundrum bedevils Ontario communities". The nuclear industry in Canada would like to bury 57,000 tonnes of highly radioactive waste in Ontario. Two sites are currently being pursued namely South Bruce near Wingham, Ontario or Ignace in Ontario's north-west corner. The plan is to bury these wastes in deep geological repositories-otherwise known as man-made caves. How deep is deep? What access to it after burial is there and will it remain secure and safe forever? ............................................................................................................ The arguments by the nuclear industrty are that deep geologocal repository is the safest solution. Community members fear that radiocativity will poison the groundwater for thousands of years. If it's never been done before then it's hard to gave substantive evidence either way. Let me just say this. The so called toxic waste landfill at Corunna, Ontario-near Windsor has had it's share of technical problems. Allegedly fourty feet or more of clay was supposed to stop everything forever. It's supposedly been good overall but there have been issues within certain "cells" of the landfill. ......................................................................................................................... There has been no lack of polls by both sides and no lack of money being thrown around the communities by the nuclear industry as they try to buy support. What a way to run a railroad! One last point Waterloo Region. Wingham is just down the road west of where I live in Elmira, Ontario. Why bury anything in heavily populated southern Ontario especially near communities that rely on groundwater?