Sessions held to gather opinions on site selection for nuclear waste facility

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By Nick Moore
Times & Transcript Staff

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FREDERICTON - Regardless of whether Canada's nuclear waste gets sent to New Brunswick for long-term storage, the radioactive material would never-the-less be transported through the province by way of truck, train or boat to such a facility, says the group responsible for finding a storage site.

The Nuclear Waste Management Organization says the issue of transporting used nuclear fuel from reactors across the country to one main underground storage facility is a major part of their site selection process, and they want to hear from the public about their methods and procedure.

The organization held a public information meeting yesterday in Fredericton, the first in a series of provincial meetings about the process of selecting a site. Similar public meetings will take place today in Edmundston and Saint John, with another scheduled June 18 in Bathurst.

Canada's nuclear power-producing provinces -- New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec (plus Saskatchewan, which is a major producer of uranium and has expressed interest in getting into the nuclear power business) -- are all being considered as possible sites for the nuclear waste storage facility. But aside from the task of finding a place to put the waste, there is the responsibility of moving it location-to-location.

"Transportation will be a significant issue that will have to be managed," said Mike Krizanc, spokesman for the NWMO. "But we are convinced that used nuclear fuel can be safely transported to the central repository.

The NWMO admitted that it's not common for nuclear fuel or nuclear waste to be transported in Canada. Right now, nuclear waste from New Brunswick's Point Lepreau Generating Station (about 25 minutes west of Saint John) is stored onsite inside tanks similar to an Olympic-sized swimming pool. There's enough space to handle the facility's nuclear waste for the next three decades.

Progressive Conservative MLA Bruce Northrup attended yesterday's information session and said he doesn't see why New Brunswick can't continue to store only its own nuclear waste.

Krizanc said having one singular site responsible for managing the nation's nuclear waste is beneficial, as opposed to the seven sites in Canada currently in use. He said security would be more practical for one site, and expenses would be reduced.

Krizanc also said a new national nuclear waste site would give the next generation some choice in terms of being able to retrieve the material for fuel in the future. In that respect, Krizanc said the facility would only have to be passively managed if future generations didn't want to retrieve the waste.

The Conservation Council of New Brunswick said it plans to be at these public meetings to give out its own information about the plan to move nuclear waste throughout the province, and potentially have a long-term storage facility installed here.

Energy Minister Jack Keir said it's important to remember that the process happening right now is to choose a site.

Any long-term nuclear waste site project would cost between $16 million and $24 billion to build, which would include the development of an underground geological repository and control centre.

The NWMO said the storage site would likely be up and running by the year 2035, at the earliest.