June 20, 2015
1530
To the Editor:
After reading some of the letters, appealing to have withdrawn Ontario Power Generation (OPG)'s proposal for a Deep Geologic Repository (DGR) for low- and intermediate-level nuclear waste at the Bruce site, I thought I would throw my two cents worth into the ring.
For the First Nations concern (as well as everyone else’s), I would submit that the ground above is just as sacred as the ground below. The bottom line is this: storing low- to intermediate-level radioactive waste in a geologically-stable environment has to be safer than storing it above ground. The fact that OPG is willing to spend millions to do so is a testament to that fact.
Radiation exposure is a fact of life, whether from naturally-occurring radon from the ground below to cosmic radiation from above. While we can’t rely on absolutes, even if the storage containers were to develop a leak in some distant time frame, I would submit that the effects would be negligible.
For our American friends, just be glad we are not being as reckless as they were from 1946-62. During that time period, the U.S. detonated just over 1,000 nuclear warheads, including some 300 in the atmosphere. Numberless tons of radioactive dust were hurled into the atmosphere.
One Hydrogen bomb detonation in the summer of ’62 at Frenchman Flat, Nevada, spread a radioactive dust cloud that drifted down on six western States and two Canadian provinces. No public warnings were issued, telling people not to touch the fresh ash.
Alas, I digress. While it’s good to have a questioning attitude, emotion should give way to allow common sense to prevail. The DGR proposal is a sensible solution.
Doug Holtby
Kincardine
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