Dear Editor,
I read TBnewswatch most days to look at local news. I spotted a bogus claim made by Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) in a sponsored content story.
They stated “Every day, millions of Canadians, including those in Northwestern Ontario, rely on nuclear energy for electricity to power their homes and businesses”.
This is a ludicrous claim. The nuclear reactors in southern Ontario at Pickering, Darlington and Bruce are 1600 km away (from Thunder Bay - and more from Dryden and other locations to the west) and the line losses would be considerable because of this distance. More additional power would dissipate because of many transformers and connections over this distance.
Why would this ever happen? There is a surplus of electricity in Northwestern Ontario. If some temporary additional electricity was needed to balance the west grid it could be transferred from Manitoba or Minnesota.
If one were reading quickly, the next paragraph begins “More than fifty years …”. I challenge the NWMO to provide evidence, times and amounts over the last 50 years that nuclear generator electricity reached Thunder Bay and other communities in the Northwest.
Also of concern is the way the NWMO article tries to promote their proposed nuclear waste site near Ignace, Wabigoon and Dryden.
This “sponsored content” article states “used nuclear fuel” a couple of times that glosses over the complexities of high level nuclear waste that is dangerous for approximately 100,000 years. They're not dealing with ashes from used firewood.
Graham Saunders
