Ontario Municipal Election 2022
Responses from Clarington Municipal Election Candidates
Candidate responses to:
Do you believe that OPG should build above-ground, attack-resistant, reinforced concrete vaults at the Bruce, Darlington and Pickering Nuclear Stations for the safer interim storage of its high-level radioactive nuclear wastes?
Mayor
No candidates have responded yet.
Regional Councillor
Bernard Sanchez
Undecided
I tend to lean toward yes but I would need to understand both parties position to answer yes or no.
Councillor
Lloyd Rang
Yes
This seems like a sensible precaution to take if long-term storage solutions truly are a long way off. Given the growing frequency of extreme weather events, this seems prudent to me, but I would like to know more about how this would be funded. We also need to build new generation, and we need to ensure funds are available for that work also.
Robert Livingstone
Undecided
Ryan Kerr
Undecided
As an ironworker who does these installations, I would need more information on the supporting project.
IE
The solution that was chosen at the time versus the cost to build a new structure and the plan for new hazardous waste handling procedure of how the secondary handling of the waste into the new structur would be managed.
Our trade is fond of these projects as it creates work for a large project like this, while protecting the environment, but I would definitely need to review of risk analysis and expenditure.
Thank you for bringing this to my attention, it’s helpful for me to share with my local as a potential project to advocate for.
Sami Elhajjeh
Undecided
Sorry, I’m not familiar enough with this policy to make an educated comment.
Steven Conway
Undecided
I would have to look into it. I don’t know how anything above ground could be attack-resistant. I am concerned about how and where to store the waste too.
Councillor At Large
No candidates have responded yet.
Background Information:
The total radioactivity of the nuclear wastes stored at the Bruce, Darlington and Pickering Nuclear Stations is 700 times greater than the total radiation released to the atmosphere by the Fukushima accident in 2011.
The International Joint Commission’s Great Lakes Water Quality Board is calling for Ontario Power Generation’s (OPG) nuclear waste storage facilities to be “hardened” and located away from shorelines to avoid them being compromised by flooding and erosion.
According to a report prepared for OPG, the total capital cost of building above-ground, attack-resistant, reinforced concrete vaults at the Bruce, Darlington and Pickering Nuclear Stations would be approximately $1 billion. This safer interim solution can be fully paid for by OPG’s nuclear waste storage fund, which has a market value of $11.3 billion.
In Germany, six nuclear stations have hardened storage facilities. The concrete walls and roofs of these facilities are 1.2 to 1.3 metres thick.
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization is still decades away from having an operational long-term storage site for high-level radioactive waste, and its plans are opposed by many Indigenous communities and organizations in the areas it is considering. This means that safer interim storage solutions are needed for the waste that is stored at our nuclear stations.
For more information, please read our report: A Safer Interim Storage Solution for Ontario’s Nuclear Wastes.