To the editor,
A proposal for the storage of nuclear waste near Bancroft, Ontario should be considered. It is both central and close to radioactive waste at Chalk River, the nuclear plants in Southern Ontario, the uranium tailings at Blind River, Serpent River and Elliot Lake as well as the contaminated soils from the Cameco plants in Port Hope.
The former Bicroft uranium mine near Bancroft, while it has been decommissioned, still has tailings and underground workings with radioactivity above provincial norms. There is clay nearby that can buffer the radioactivity from the surrounding environment. The shield rock there is as good as any in Northern Ontario. The former mining community, the village of Cardiff, has suffered unemployment since the closure of the uranium mines in the late 1950s and would be an ideal host community.
Moreover, since Southern Ontario benefits from 60 per cent of its electric power coming from nuclear plants, they have a moral obligation to accept their own waste. The Minister Greg Rickford can withdraw Crown land without consultation for the nuclear industry to proceed with this proposal (this was done in Northern Ontario).
It's time Southern Ontario fully benefited from their nuclear electrons on the grid. The solution to radioactive waste is right in their own backyard.
Paul Filteau
