Thunder Bay’s city council shows support for opposition groups against nuclear waste storage in the region.
They are sending a letter to the Nuclear Waste Management Organization to keep nuclear waste near its generation sites.
On Monday night, 100 people attended an anti-nuclear waste storage in the region rally before Nuclear Free Thunder Bay and Environment North spoke to the council.
This comes as there is strong support from a small town in northwestern Ontario to become the possible home of Canada’s first underground nuclear storage unit.
Ignace town council voted to continue showing interest in the $26-billion project during a special meeting in July. The vote came after a community “willingness survey” revealed more than 77 per cent of voters want to move forward.
The reception around the region has not been as warm.
Thunder Bay’s council has asked city administration to review their Dangerous Good Route and determine if there are potential changes that may be enacted relative to the travel of hazardous materials through the city.
A letter is also being drafted on behalf of council urging the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) to pursue the option of managing the used nuclear fuel waste closer to the reactor stations where the waste has been generated and is currently stored and thereby avoid the transportation of nuclear waste through Thunder Bay.
A copy of the letter is to be shared with, the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources of Canada, MP Patty Hajdu and MP Marcus Powlowski.
“There was a lot of good discussion on a very complex and polarizing topic,” said Nuclear Free Thunder Bay’s Charles Faust following the Thunder Bay council meeting.
“At the end of the day, this resolution will not change the world – but it does shine a light in a dark corner. It gives voice to opponents of the flawed site selection process that put the willingness decision in the hands of one small Northwestern Ontario community to the exclusion of all the other communities along the transportation corridor and downstream from the proposed dump site.”
