On June 26, the federal government ended the Environmental Assessment of a proposed radioactive waste storage facility beside Lake Huron, after Ontario Power Generation (OPG) withdrew its proposal to build it. OPG decided to terminate the project after the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, on whose unceded territory the facility would be located, voted on January 31 not to support the project, which had been under consideration for 15 years. What to do with radioactive waste remains a significant challenge for all nuclear reactor operators, including the two new nuclear projects currently supported by NB Power and the New Brunswick government. Recently, more than 100 groups across Canada, including nine in New Brunswick, signed a letter to the federal minister of Natural Resources asking to suspend all decisions about radioactive waste disposal until Canada has a sufficient radioactive waste policy in place. In November 2019, a special mission of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recommended that Canada’s radioactive waste policy needed to be enhanced and that a national strategy on dealing with radioactive waste needed to be formulated. Canada has agreed to act on the IAEA recommendation.
NB Media Co-op 29th June 2020 read more »